


The Wolf

by Lalaith_Quetzalli



Series: Triune [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Issues, Fix-It, Hale Family Feels, Light Cameos from Suits and Fifty Shades, M/M, Mates, Multi, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Stiles Stilinski Saves The Hales, Tattoos, Temporary Character Death, The Hale Family (Teen Wolf) Lives, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, True Alpha, True Alpha Derek Hale, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:54:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27621677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lalaith_Quetzalli/pseuds/Lalaith_Quetzalli
Summary: The intense feeling of deja vu is almost enough to drive Derek crazy… until he realizes it’s not deja vu at all. That it’s so much better, and at the same time, so much worse. He gets all he lost back, has the chance to do things over, avoid all his mistakes, but what of all the things he did right? What of all he’d gained? Will he have a chance to get it all back, or is that past, and all about it gone, for good?OrThe story of the Triune's trime-travel with Derek as the focus.
Relationships: Cora Hale & Derek Hale, Derek Hale & Laura Hale, Derek Hale & Peter Hale, Derek Hale & The Hales, Derek Hale's Father/Talia Hale, Derek Hale/Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Laura Hale/Jordan Parrish, Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Malia Tate/Kira Yukimura, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Past Braeden/Derek Hale - Relationship, Past Peter Hale/Original Female Character, Peter Hale/Sheriff Stilinski
Series: Triune [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000062
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	The Wolf

**Author's Note:**

> I've been asked where Derek is for most of the events in "The Raven" and "The Lily" here you've got your answer. I hope it'll be satisfying, that it'll answer all the questions you might have. 
> 
> I know some people write fics where, when mates time-travel, they do so together, they're together from the start, no matter their ages. I do enjoy those fics, but as always I wanted to do something different. So as I always say, I took a left turn somewhere and went down a completely different road. I like how things turn out, I hope you will as well. 
> 
> This is the shortest of all three pieces, but certainly no less important. I wonder, before the fic answers the question, does anyone know who Boyce Fox is?
> 
> Hope you enjoy, and if you'd like to know why I choose to do things this way, I'll explain a bit more in the end notes! (Not here because... spoilers!).

****

It begins with the strangest sense of deja vu. He wakes up early, the coach told them to be there for early training. The man can be really intense sometimes (more like, all the time, really), but a good coach nevertheless, and Derek likes being in the team. Even though it's hard, and he needs to concentrate all the time so as not to seem 'too good', when he's playing he can forget, at least for a little while, how fucked up his life truly is. He can forget Paige, his first love, the girl he wanted to believe might be his mate; he fucked things up so absolutely with her, he got her killed! By his own hand! And for what? She wasn't his mate in the end… And how does he even know that anyway?!

Laura's being a pain in the ass, refuses to drive him, says she isn't ready yet, she's still blow-drying her hair, and has to do her make-up. Her boyfriend's leaving for his first tour of duty in the Middle-East and according to her, it's extremely important that he not forget her while he's gone, so she has to make sure to make an impression. Derek just doesn't see the point, either they're mates, in which case Jordan will return once his tour is over and they'll be together; or they aren't, in which case he won't, and they won't, and that's it. At least his uncle Peter takes pity on him and offers to drive him to the school. His Mercedes might not be as cool as Laura's Camaro, but according to Peter, he's a lawyer, and as thus needs to have a sensible car (though that doesn't mean that under the hood the car hasn't been modified and improved to kingdom come, and Derek so will ask him to get the same done to his own car… when he has one… one he won't be sharing with his sister… some day).

On the way to the school Peter comments on how mature it was of Derek not to get into a shouting match with his sister.

"I have to go to San Francisco in the weekend, wanna come with me?" Peter offers unexpectedly.

Derek blinks, unable to keep from staring at his uncle in shock. There's a voice in the back of his head whispering 'That's new', and then he has to wonder where that even came from. Granted, it is indeed the first time that his uncle Peter invites him to one of his trips to San Fran. He goes at least once a month. From what Derek knows, his Uncle Peter is part of a law-firm that's based there in San Francisco: Specter-Ross, even though he mostly works from home and only goes in to the office to work on some paperwork when necessary.

"You don't have to decide now of course," Peter goes on. "Just let me know before Friday so I can talk to your mom about it."

Derek just nods, still wondering about his own initial thoughts regarding the offer.

Things get even more bizarre when he gets to where Coach Rogers and his teammates are waiting for him and he realizes he knows almost every word of Coach's speech before it actually crosses his mouth.

"Hale!" Andrews, the Captain, calls him. "You awake yet?"

Derek doesn't answer him, though when the ball heads his way he reacts immediately. He doesn't even see it coming, doesn't have to, he knows the exact trajectory, can recall it almost perfectly… it's eerie. He makes his move and then begins jogging towards a corner, to be ready for the next play, Andrews stares at him for a few more seconds before jogging in a different direction.

"I'm not asleep." He replies absently to no one in particular.

No, he's just having the strangest case of deja vu ever. He doesn't even know if that's how it's supposed to work anyway. Because, deja vu is supposed to be about living through something and having a feeling like it's happened before, right? Not living through things and being able to tell what's coming because a part of you is sure you've lived through it all before. Except… except if that's true that means…

Derek gasps, eyes wide, the ball hits him on the arm and he doesn't react at all, he forgets to at least flinch to keep up the human facade. He doesn't care about any of that in that moment, the moment the first pang hits him he's running. He ignores his teammates and Coach completely. Runs across the school, barely managing to keep himself enough in control so people won't grow too suspicious of things, makes it to the street practically at the same time as Laura's car takes the corner a bit too fast, almost crashing against him before she sees him and steps on the breaks in the middle of the street. Derek says nothing, just throws himself into the car; she's stepping on the gas, hard, before he's even fully closed the door.

There are dozens of different thoughts fighting inside his head, so many of them contradictory in the strangest of ways. Like, he's in Laura's car, heading home, and neither of them has the slightest idea what's happening, only that something's wrong. And at the same time he can half-remember collapsing in the field, groaning in pain, his team around him, Coach babbling about him not being qualified to deal with whatever was wrong with him, a man in a uniform, a Deputy, telling him he'd bad news, Laura hysterical… Except that hasn't happened, it cannot have happened. Because he's not at school, he didn't collapse, he's in the car with Laura. Is something wrong with him? Is he going crazy? Deja vu just doesn't cover the riot that his mind's become. He doesn't understand what's going on, at all.

They get to the clearing where their house stands, except it's falling, collapsing upon itself, and there's fire and smoke, and the smell alone almost makes Derek sick, he's half into a panic attack even as he hears Laura call out to their mom… and there's a response! There's a response, his mom's alive… that's not a hallucination, is it?

And then he sees it, the last thing he ever expected to see: a small body laying unconscious, half on the grass, half on his mother's arms, blood slowly slipping past the hand she's pressing tightly just bellow his shoulder.

Who shot him? Who's that?! He's just a boy, a little kid… he…

"Mischief…" The name seems to be almost pulled out of him, along with the very breath in his lungs, and then his mind just goes blank.

**xXx**

The weeks following the fire are some of the hardest Derek's ever lived through. And he had to live through twenty years of knowing his whole pack was gone, and he'd played a part in it happening. Stiles and Lydia might have been able to convince him that it was not truly his fault, after much kind words, gentle cajoling and at times cold, harsh facts. He was a minor, one who'd been recently badly traumatized, who was still vulnerable, and an older, cold-blooded killer of a bitch used that to manipulate him. She didn't just get information out of him, she manipulated his body, flirted with him, twisted him around until, by the time they had sex he was convinced it'd all been his idea in the first place (even though he hadn't been ready, not truly); and then, not happy with that, she shamed him for his wolf, for 'losing control' during sex. Made him feel like he was more beast than man, and that no one would ever truly love him for himself. She twisted him around so much that even a decade later he'd trouble making connections with people, hadn't recognized his mates even though he spent so much time around them, had been manipulated by yet another crazy psycho and didn't realize it when it was happening (didn't admit it, not even to himself, for the longest time afterwards).

Braeden was a godsend, in many ways. She didn't love him, just as he didn't love her, but they got along just fine, and they were… compatible. She was the first person he told about all the hangups he had, regarding sex, all the ways he just didn't feel comfortable, and she took it upon herself to get him through it all. She could be playful, tender, forceful, as necessary, and with her help, Derek learned that sex didn't have to be rough, painful, didn't have to be about exercising power over someone else, that it could be funny, could be intense, could be soft, could be so many things… Derek would forever regret not being able to save Braeden. But after the disaster in Beacon Hills, Derek just needed to find Stiles, find Lydia, find Peter, and whoever else might still be alive. Braeden for her part thought she could play double agent, she still had connections with the government, and she'd be able to give them insider information. She'd managed to save a few lives before being found out… then the government made an example out of her. And there was nothing Derek could do…

"Der…? Dinner's ready…" It's Laura calling to him.

Derek says nothing, he just stays where he is, on a corner of the rooftop of the two floor townhouse. The house is theirs, though they usually rent it out, it's too close to downtown, and wolves prefer to be surrounded by trees. Also, it's small for their needs, they need to share rooms; and it's a good thing that their extended family decided to return to their own homes as soon as their Alpha declared it was safe to make the trip. He knows his parents are already making arrangements for a new pack house to be built, but it'll take a few months.

"I know you could probably stay up there all night, but you don't need to." Laura says, she doesn't shout, nor does she need to. "We're here for you Der…"

Derek knows he shocked them all greatly, first when he began babbling about it all being his fault, about Kate and what he'd done, what he'd said to her… Hearing Laura so worried… Derek hates knowing it's his fault, that he's hurting her, hurting them all, but he just cannot help it. If he tried to approach their pack, tried to explain… they'd never understand. He's not sure he does! Still, he hates hurting Laura. She was always the kind to make life difficult for him, in the house and outside of it. He knows it's not easy for her, being the first born Hale, a lot is expected of her, the potential future Alpha… he's heard the whispers from some wolves from other packs, who think Derek should be the heir, why? Because he's the male? It's utterly ridiculous! His mom is a woman and she's the alpha, and she's great at it. He knows that in the past Laura was forceful with him, as a way to enforce her position, to reassure herself that she was the future alpha, that he'd submit to her. Derek didn't mind, he was never interested in being alpha… and knowing what he does now…

Derek isn't sure how long it takes him to realize what's going on. He losses time, during those first weeks, getting lost in himself. Even after seeing Stiles unconscious and bleeding from a bullet to his shoulder, even though a part of him found it strange that he knew the name of the boy at all… well, he'd been having the strangest case of deja vu all day, so what? But eventually the memories come (back) to him, and he realizes it isn't deja vu at all…

_When Derek saw the news about what had happened in North California, about the explosion, and the fire, and the loss of a 'small town in the middle of the woods', his blood almost froze in his veins. His first thought was "Stiles!" closely followed by "Lydia!", and then he was running before he fully realized it, before he even knew where he was running to, exactly._

_Last he'd heard Stiles had finally left Washington, having become a fully fledged FBI Agent. Did those travel everywhere or were they stationed somewhere? Lydia was still in Cambridge, last he knew, but it had been a few years since, and if she'd finished her studies the logic would be for her to be where Stiles was, since they were together and all, right?_

_In the end Derek found them completely by accident. He still hadn't had the slightest idea where to go. After watching the news in a diner where he stopped for some coffee one day it became quite clear that, with the situation with the government being what it was, Stiles wouldn't have stayed with them. The boy… man, was probably on the wind by then. It should have made it even harder to find him, to find them both. Especially because Derek was quite certain if Stiles ever got it into his head to keep himself hidden, he'd succeed. As it turned out, he was half-right._

_In the end, Derek didn't actually go out looking for Stiles, but he found him anyway. He was, in fact, with Lydia. And, as he learned, they'd been with Peter and Malia too, until the two of them were killed less than three days prior._

" _It… it was all my fault!" Lydia wept bitterly. "I was just so, so tired of all the truck-stops and crappy motels, and I knew our fake IDs were good, Danny set them up, of course they're good. I thought we could go to an actual hotel, a decent one, just once, just a couple of nights. Have a long shower, perhaps even a bath, sleep in a real bed… we wouldn't even have to be seen by anyone, that's what room-service is for! I… I don't even know how they found us, what tipped them off exactly. But they did find us. They caught Malia and when they hurt her…"_

" _Peter went feral on their asses." Stiles added more succinctly when Lydia's voice broke and she looked like she might actually cry, which neither of them wanted. "Last thing he told us was to run, and to find you. Have to admit I had no idea how we were going to do that exactly. You finding us was a huge boon, Sourwolf…"_

" _I intended to look for you as well," Derek nods. "Though like you said, I'd no idea how to do that either. Especially because I knew it was likely you'd be on the move."_

_He went to embrace Stiles, scenting him automatically. He only realized what he was doing when his face was already pressed against the younger man's neck, and his surprise only grew when he realized Stiles was doing the same._

" _Damn!" Stiles's voice sounded wet with un-shed tears. "I've really, truly missed you Der…"_

" _I missed you too, both of you." Derek admitted quietly, before turning to Lydia, scenting her too and then holding her tenderly. "It's not your fault Lydia. You couldn't have known…"_

" _I should have known!" Lydia berated herself._

" _Even the great Lydia Martin cannot know everything," Derek said comfortingly in a half-teasing tone, before pressing a light kiss to her temple. "It'll be okay. We're together now. We'll look after each other, I promise you."_

" _Pack?" Surprisingly, the question came from Lydia first, though Stiles echoed it a second later._

" _Pack." He agreed, and that was that._

Them falling into bed together wasn't exactly planned. Then again, he's not sure anything could ever be fully planned when either of them were involved, when it was the two of them? Ha! He was probably lucky they liked him… or no, it was more than that really, and they both made it perfectly clear from the very beginning.

_He'd never forget, the way Stiles had completely frozen mid-motion, upper-body bare, jeans unbuttoned and with the zipper down, hanging precariously off his narrow hips. Derek only vaguely noticed he was going commando, his hands itching to reach in, to his bare body, to touch and memorize every inch of him. To follow the dots scattered down his pale skin and see just how far down they went… though at the same time, half his attention had been on the equally gorgeous female body pressed to his side. Lydia had shrugged off the rolled up plaid-shirt (which, on hindsight, had probably been one of Stiles's) and short-shorts she'd been wearing, leaving her in a thin-strapped camisole-style top and sheer panties that left very little to the imagination and made Derek's wolf sit up and take notice._

_It wasn't that he'd never noticed what the two of them smelled like. But more that for so long he'd been so utterly messed up… Kate truly fucked him up in more ways than he'd ever admitted, even to himself. It was the only way he could find to explain how he can possibly have been in close contact with two individuals his wolf was howling at him were his mates, and not have noticed it until that very moment._

_Of course, Stiles freezing just before getting fully naked, with Derek himself wearing nothing but black boxer-briefs by that point, didn't make things any easier._

" _I… tellmethisisnotaonenightthing… please…Der… I…"_

_Even with his enhanced hearing it took Derek a bit to parse out what exactly Stiles just said, and the expression in his eyes… so much naked longing… Derek couldn't quite believe it. Truth is, while he too might have been wishing that what they were doing in that moment wouldn't be a one night thing, he hadn't dared hope for anything more than what they were already offering to him. Because Stiles and Lydia? They were amazing, so beautiful, and clever, and strong; and together they were perfect, and what was Derek compared to that? What did he even have to offer to people as wonderful as them?_

" _You, you have yourself to offer to us." It was until Stiles answered him that he realized he'd been speaking out-loud._

" _You are wonderful Derek." Lydia assured him, offering him one of her hands. "We think… no, we know that. You're as gorgeous, and clever and incredibly strong as you believe us to be. We… Stiles and I, we're good together, but I do believe that with you we could be even better. Will you give us a chance?"_

" _Yes." Derek didn't even have to stop and think about it._

_When he turned his eyes to Stiles he saw he was offering one of his hands to him as well, his free one already clasping Lydia's own. It was both the easiest, and the most incredibly terrifying thing ever for Derek to reach out, with each of his hands, and take hold of theirs. But once he did… he truly believed it was absolutely better._

_And then there were lips on lips, teeth nipping at sensitive skin, hands touching, tongues tasting and the rest of the night was lost in their love and their passion and their bond…_

Two weeks later Derek is once again sitting on the rooftop. Inside his family seems to be happy for a change. Uncle Peter is playing with Oliver for the first time since the fire, he's finally fully healed. It's something that makes Derek feel a very deep relief, at the same time that he feels a terrible guilt. Relief that his uncle won't have to suffer for so many years like he did in the other timeline… and guilt, because they probably would have been able to help him heal then too, if only he and Laura had stayed, or at least taken Peter with them to New York. Peter had needed them and they weren't there. And he understands that Laura was scared (she was so very young, not truly ready to be an alpha, though she tried so, so hard...), so was he, but Peter didn't deserve to suffer like he did, trapped inside his own mind, with nothing but pain to keep him company (the pain of his burns, of the loss of his bonds, of the loss of his baby boy…).

He listens to Grandma Imala sending him a kiss before going for a walk. He knows she'll walk down to the end of the street and from there into the preserve. She does it every other day. Derek keeps his eyes on her until she disappears behind a building too tall for him to see anymore of the street. Then he turns his attention back to the West. No one's been able to figure it out yet. The fact that Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital is in that direction, less than half a mile away, he can even see the top floor from where he is. And while he might not be able to see, hear or smell Stiles in any way, it helps, knowing he's there.

A few hours later something happens, he doesn't know what at first. He can feel something is off, there's a wrongness in the air that he cannot explain. He's just turned South, towards the preserve, when the explosion happens, he even sees it in the distance, in the very heart of the preserve. And then he feels it, inside, like something's burning him from the inside out. He drops to his knees, curling up, trying to stay in control though it's near-impossible. The feeling only grows and then it's like he's burning not just from the inside but the outside too, his back's burning. Derek knows something's wrong, horribly, terribly wrong, though he has no idea what. He's feeling so much at the same time he doesn't understand, and when he can no longer control himself he lets lose and howls: long and loud, to the skies…

He steps off the rooftop to land on the backyard, one knee on the ground, at the same time he hears his mom… no, not his mom, his alpha. She's howling, something's wrong, something's happened to his family, his grandma… but much as he might like to, his mind just cannot process it, he's lost himself, it's too much. He goes to move, except he never gets on his feet. The change comes in an instant, where there was once tanned skin, there is now coal-black fur, his clothes fall, ripped into pieces, around him, and a moment later Derek is running on four legs, out of the house and straight towards the Preserve.

His family can only watch him go, wondering what the hell is going on. Derek's been off ever since the fire, and now… and since when can he turn into a freaking wolf?!

**xXx**

Derek stays as a wolf for a long time. Life's easier as a wolf. He doesn't have to deal with the more complex human emotions.

His family does what they can to help him but it's not easy. Grandma Imala's dead, Dr. Deaton's missing, the Nemeton has blown up… and that last detail was almost enough to give Derek a stroke, until he realized that Beacon Hills was still standing. According to their research, the destruction of Beacon Hills had originated with the blowing up of the Nemeton; then how was it possible that the Nemeton had blown up yet the town remained untouched? If it weren't because he was in the hospital still Derek would believe Stiles to be involved somehow.

When the howl comes Derek reacts instinctively. And he's not the only one. Laura practically trips out of the house, half ready for a battle even though she cannot know who the enemy is, if there's an enemy at all. Derek, in what's become his corner of the backyard (after about a month his dad managed to convince him to stay in the property, even if he'd rather be a wolf than a boy, after the loss of Grandma Imala his mom wanted to keep everyone close) Derek stands, ears moving this way and that as he tries to pin-point the direction and distance of the call. He doesn't even know where his parents and his Uncle Peter are, then again, the adults rarely tell anyone other than Laura, and sometimes Philip, what they're doing and where they're going at any given time. And it's not like Derek's ever cared to ask before.

"We need to go!" Laura snaps. "We need to…"

Realizing that his sister really needs him in that moment somehow is enough to allow Derek to keep all the dark emotions away and he shifts to human, uncaring of his nudity he goes to crouch beside where his sister keeps shifting, ready to fight.

"Laura, Lo, calm down… relax…" He does his best to sooth her. "You cannot go to war when you don't even know who the enemy's supposed to be. Or if there's even one."

"But mom…" Laura begins.

She's still pretty much on edge, but no longer wild, which Derek knows means he's getting through to her. It helps that she hasn't had a reason to go feral. She hasn't been hunted, hasn't been in a position where it's kill or be killed… Derek's shocked to realize that his sister, though she's technically older than him, though she'll one day be his alpha, is incredibly innocent, more than him even (with and without his future memories).

"We need to call her, find out what's going on." Derek says calmly.

"I… even if I howl how will I know…" Laura begins, still a bit confused.

"I'm not telling you to howl for her, take your phone and call her." Derek rolls his eyes.

Laura lets out a slight giggle as she realizes how ridiculous her own idea is, and how unnecessary. So she pulls out her phone.

They don't actually get told that much. Little more than "No, we're not in danger, stay where you are" really, but it's enough for the time being. Still, it's quite shocking when their parents and uncle finally arrive close to half an hour later and their mom goes straight to where Laura and Derek are still sitting together on the back-porch (he's wearing a pair of boxers Cora got for him, not because any of them had a problem with him being naked, but because the last thing they needed was one of their nosy neighbors possibly seeing something and things getting messy) practically throwing herself on them and hugging them tightly.

"Mom?!" Laura doesn't understand, she just hugs back.

Truth is, Derek doesn't understand either, but it's the first time his mom, his alpha, has embraced him since the fire that consumed their house… since the fire that almost killed them… and that, more than anything else gives him a sense of release that he cannot fully explain. Ever since he confessed what he'd done, his faults (his crimes) the way he was at least partially responsible for what Kate and her hunters did to them Derek's been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even though he might no longer believe himself entirely guilty for it all, he knows he still had some responsibility, and in some packs that would be enough to condemn him, exile if not death… But the way his mom is holding him, so tightly, so full of strength, and relief, and… love. For the first time since he woke up in the past, since he realized that he had another chance, Derek believes that it might truly be a blessing, that he might not lose everything for a second time…

That brings up thoughts of Stiles, and of Lydia as well. While most would say that there's no proof that anyone other than him traveled back in time. Because, wouldn't they have looked for him if they had? After all, they were his pack, his mates… Derek might no longer be the alpha (and while a part of him almost misses the power, the connection he had to the land and to his mates; there's another part of him that hopes he'll never be an alpha again), but he'll never forget when he woke up with a strange itching, almost burning sensation on his back, and when he half-ran, half-tripped into the closest bathroom and looked at it in the mirror… his tattoo was there. The one he hadn't gotten yet, that he might have never gotten, with how things had changed… it was there already, the Hale triskele. He wonders if they have it too… if it might bring them the same comfort it does him. But then why haven't they sought him out?

In any case, he knows at least Stiles has to have traveled back in time too (how else could he explain Stiles being there, saving his family?). And if the both of them did, why not Lydia too? And if that was the case, if all three of them had come to the past together, why haven't they reached out to Derek? Then again, someone might wonder the same about him (if anyone knew that he'd time-traveled). While his mates might not have approached him, he hasn't approached them either. To be fair, he was so lost in his own messy emotions for the past weeks that he could hardly think about anything other than the fact that he almost lost his whole family… again. Then the loss of Grandma Imala, which no one could explain, and being a wolf doesn't just mean that he doesn't have to worry about some things, he doesn't think about them at all. So really, until that day he hadn't really stopped to think about such things. He doesn't know what to do. How can he approach them and not look like a complete pervert (worse than Kate even!); while he might be a minor himself, Stiles and Lydia are children! The difference in ages is too great for him to be able to easily make up an explanation as to how he knows them; and then there is the fact that Stiles was in the hospital until… until that very day in fact. It makes him wonder if his mother's reaction might be connected somehow… But still, do they perhaps not know he traveled back too? Or maybe… maybe they don't want him anymore?

He knows it's ridiculous, that if either of his mates got so much as an inkling that he's thinking such things they'd smack him for doubting them and yet… the way they got together wasn't what one would call normal. It had been as good as the end of the world for them, each of them feeling like it might all end at any moment, like they had nothing left to lose… until they had each other. If there's one thing Derek's thankful for, aside from the whole time-traveling thing, it's that he didn't have to see his mates die… he can remember dying, and he will never stop feeling terrible that they had to witness it, and he knows they did, he could feel them, in those last moments, he knows they were close. He knows they were there, and has no doubt how they must have reacted to his death. Stiles… he confessed to being more than a little unhinged since the loss of his dad, and Derek would never forget the first time he saw the young human kill to protect him and Lydia, there was no hesitation in his motions, and no regret in his eyes. So yes, Derek has a very good idea how Stiles reacted. As for Lydia… she was quite clear to him too, even more so than Stiles: " _I will not live without you two Derek, I refuse to..._ " She'd said those words to him after he was shot in the stomach with blue wolfsbane. He'd almost died, and would have if his two lovers hadn't gone after the hunters that attacked him to get a bullet to treat him (Derek also knows there were no survivors of his mates' wrath). The banshee had said those words to get him to keep fighting, to heal, to not give up… But he knows they weren't empty, she meant them, she wouldn't live without him, without Stiles. And it's not like he'd have lived without them either…

Derek has no doubt that Stiles and Lydia loved him, just as he loved them. He wants to believe that they can love each other in this life too but… but he doesn't want it to be just a given, something that happens because they think that's how things are meant to be. He supposes, in the end, what he really wants is to feel worthy of them.

In the other timeline such details didn't really matter. Who cared if he was a high-school dropout who never went to college? Who never had an actual job? With the huge mess that was his life, he never had a chance for any of that. And yet, his mates… they'd both gone to good universities. Lydia had a Doctorate in Math and an additional degree in Physics or Chemistry or something like that; Stiles had a degree in Criminology and was a fully trained FBI Agent. And then there was everything else they each knew: history, mythology, languages. His mates were geniuses and, this time, Derek would like to stand by their side and not feel like he just didn't measure up to them. He knows they wouldn't care, they never had, but he would. And it's not even just for them. He wants to make something of his life, for himself, to be more than he ever had the chance to be in the other future.

Without truly thinking about it Derek begins jogging, then running. He's in full-wolf form, a form that's become almost as natural to him as his humanoid one. Derek realizes where he's going when he's halfway there already, though he doesn't stop until he's almost in the Stilinski backyard. Originally he was planning on climbing to the rooftop, getting as close as possible to Stiles, at least for a little while. Until he realizes that not only he isn't alone, but he and Lydia are in the backyard, cuddling together on a blanket, Stiles's mom's old blanket… They're holding each other, hand in hand… yet something Derek cannot help but notice is that they just have one of their hands entwined. The others they hold away, even as they keep opening and closing their fists, like some sort of nervous tick.

It takes Derek a ridiculously long time to understand the significance of it all. The fact that that those hands they won't touch, are the very hands he'd be holding if he were right there with them. Those were His hands… it had always been like that, from the very first night. It was instinctive, Stiles on his right, Lydia on his left, and then the two of them closed the circle.

It is then that Derek realizes something else: he cannot go to them, not now. Not yet. Not until he's done all he can, has become what and who he needs to be. And it's not that he thinks his mates wouldn't support him, because he knows they would, they could never do anything else. Just like he could never do anything other than support them in any and every way he could. It's that… if he were to go to them, to take their hands… he won't be able to let go. He won't want to. And he's not ready for that yet.

The time for that will come, but just not yet. He has hope though, hope that they won't give up on him. That they'll wait for him. That he'll be able to make it worth the wait…

He begins to make plans. First, he needs to get out of Beacon Hills. Much as the mere idea hurts him, walking away from his mates, he must, if only for a while. Then he needs to finish high-school, perhaps he could test out? Even if he never actually attended his last-year of high-school after the fire, Laura did make him get a GED, so he could do that again. Then… then he needs to go to college. He knows it won't be easy, and he cannot do it alone. He needs to talk to Laura…

**xXx**

They take a plane to New York early on a Sunday morning. It's Peter who drives them to the airport in San Francisco, he reminds Laura of all the arrangements that have been made. They have a flat just a few blocks away from NYU, the college they'll both be attending.

Laura… it turns out she's always wanted to study something related to Medicine. Her immediate goal is to be a paramedic, as she believes that being a wolf would give her an edge, and she does really want to help people. But she knows that when the time comes that she finds her mate and has a family, being a paramedic might not be for the best; which is why she also intends to become a Nurse. She knows it'll take years, but has it all carefully planned out already.

Derek didn't realize how much he just didn't know about his own sister, until he goes to her, after coming to his epiphany that he just cannot stay in Beacon Hills. Turns out that she was already planning on leaving. She was accepted at NYU, at the Rory Meyers College of Nursing. Unlike him, she did go back to school after the fire, though she chose to test out and graduated several months early. As he finds out, she'd been planning on inviting him to go to NY with her, hoping that might help him, as nothing else seemed to. She also manages to convince him to finish high-school, instead of just waiting the necessary amount of time and then getting a GED.

Their first month in NY is rocky, to say the least. Derek keeps having nightmares, and while he never does scream, he whimpers sometimes. He knows Laura is very worried about him, but she doesn't know how to talk to him about it, keeps walking on eggshells, afraid of hurting instead of helping him. Derek himself feels on the edge of losing control, he doesn't know if it's the absence of his mates, of his alpha, of the rest of the pack… when he decided on leaving Beacon Hills, on being with just Laura, he didn't seem to remember that this time around Laura isn't his alpha, she isn't an alpha at all yet (and a part of him is starting to believe that a part of her hopes that day won't come for a long time yet, if ever). He knows that they cannot continue like that for long, it'll drive the both of them nuts…

And then it happens. In the middle of the night, he wakes up from yet another nightmare. And he can tell that Laura is there, standing in the shadows of the moonless night, leaning on the door to his bedroom, saying nothing, just watching, she smells like exhaustion, and fear and sadness… so much sadness… and the wolf inside him wants to whine, to whimper and show his belly and beg for forgiveness because the last thing he ever wanted was to make his sister hurt like that… again. So he makes a choice, he makes it in a split second, not giving himself time to overthink it, to ponder on all the ways it might be the wrong choice, all the ways things could go wrong… he just takes a deep breath and stops talking:

"You know what I remember very clearly of our first time in NY?" He asks quietly.

He knows the words alone will be enough to call Laura's attention, because it's their first time in NY, right then, and yet she will also be able to tell he's not lying…

"You were never around." Derek continues. "There was always something extremely important that you needed to do and couldn't wait. Other wolves to meet to, contacts to get in touch with, making you we weren't being followed, weren't being hunted… I knew that the dingy little apartment wasn't home for either of us, and it'd never be. And me… I was pack, but maybe I wasn't family, not anymore. You focused so much on being the alpha, it felt like you forgot you were also my sister…"

"Derek…" Laura approaches the bed slowly, hesitantly, like she doesn't know what to do, what to say. She's confused by Derek's words, and the understanding that somehow, insane as it might seem, he isn't lying.

"I never dared tell you that it was all my fault, the fire, Kate…" Derek murmurs.

"What that fucking bitch did wasn't your fault!" Laura snaps, dropping to the bed beside him and taking him into her arms. "You are a teenager! A minor! You were grieving! And she took advantage of that! That's all on her, not you."

"I know. They used to say the same, you know?"

"They? Who's they?" She's staring straight at him as he twists around in her arms to face her directly. "Der-Bear?"

"My mates." He announces, never looking away from her eyes, letting her see the sincerity in them, in him.

He tells her everything that night. Or at least as much as he can bring himself to. He tells her about the fire, about the loss of practically everyone in their pack, her inheriting the alpha spark, Peter so badly burnt and in a coma, them fleeing to the east coast, to New York…

"I… I left him?" Laura babbles, horrified.

It's almost funny, in the way that nobody laughs. But she never questions him, never demands he explain what he's talking about, never calls him crazy, or demands proof. He never even gets to actually say that he's traveled back in time it all just… she just listens to him, accepts everything he says as truth. She trusts him…

He tells her about the six years they spent in New York, and their return to Beacon Hills… telling her about her death is the hardest thing he's ever done. Though he very carefully doesn't tell her it was Peter who told her. Instead making it seem like it was truly an unknown rogue alpha, whom he killed to avenge her, and that Peter woke up weeks later (he doesn't tell her about him killing Peter or him coming back either). He's sure she knows he's editing himself, but doesn't question him either.

Telling him about the years he spent in Beacon Hills isn't easy, but it is still extremely cathartic. Makes him feel like he finally, finally can let go of all the bad and just focus on the good. On Stiles and Lydia…

"They're your mates…" Laura murmurs in awe. "You have mates… and they're back in Beacon Hills. You left Beacon Hills knowing your mates were there!"

"Yes." Derek nods grimly.

"But how could you…? I mean, the way that must make you feel…"

"It's excruciating, yes but… Laura, they're children. Children, they aren't even teens yet! I… I'm not a pedophile! I'm not like her… I…"

"No! Of course you're not like her. You could never be like her Der. She was a monster!"

Derek takes deep breaths, slowly calming down.

"So…" Laura speaks after what seems like forever. "What's the plan then?"

"I've no idea." Derek admits with a sigh. "All I know is that I want to become the best I can be. Someone who can stand side by side with Stiles and Lydia and feel like I truly belong there."

"They're already your mates, of course you belong with them." Laura points out. "But I know what you mean. When Jordan told me he was joining the army… at first I was angry, absolutely angry that he'd leave me to go get shot at! Then… then I was terrified. He was going to get shot at! Somewhere I couldn't watch out for him! What if he died?!" She shakes her head almost violently. "Then… when I saw beyond all that, beyond the anger and the fear and everything else I realized how truly brave his actions are and… I want to be worthy of him. I always knew I wanted to be nurse, or an EMT or something like that, but it wasn't something I took very seriously. It was something I wanted to do, but I didn't actually work towards it, not as hard as I could have. And when I realized that. When I realized that I wasn't giving my all I felt… almost ashamed of myself. Because I knew I could do better, I just hadn't been interested in it. Because I always felt, what was the point? Once I became alpha I'd have to leave it anyway!"

"Mom's the alpha and she has a job."

"Yeah well, I'm not mom. And as your own memories clearly show, I'm gonna suck as an alpha."

"No, you're not! That wasn't the purpose of my memories at all Lo." It was Derek's turn to make her see reason. "First of all, you didn't suck, at all. Second, you were too young when you became an alpha. We were both traumatized. You did the best you could, and yes, we could have done better, both of us. But when I was first an alpha I wasn't exactly a model one. I got two of my betas killed, while the other two chose to leave rather than have me as an alpha!"

"Not your mates, they chose to stay."

Yes they did, it's one of the reasons Derek loves them as much as he does.

"Okay so, how's this for a plan?" Laura proposes. "I'm gonna go to Nursing School, just as planned. Then I'm gonna get the EMT Basic Certification, then do the courses to become a Paramedic. You are going to finish high-school. And actually go to a high-school! You're too young for a GED, and since you didn't go even the first time around… I think it'll be good for you. Give you a chance to actually be a teenager, even if just for a little while. Also, it'll give you time to decide what you wanna do about College."

"I…" Derek still isn't sure about high-school, but he has to admit Laura's right; and it's not like he has a better plan so… "Okay. Okay, lets do this."

And thus their life in New York begins.

**xXx**

Derek does well enough in the entrance tests to go straight to junior year of high-school, even though he technically failed sophomore year in California (hard to pass when he spent the latter half of the Fall Semester in a sort of daze, first due to grief over Paige's death, and then with Kate's arrival), and just didn't show up for the Spring one after January. He doesn't exactly make a great many friends, but he does have to admit that it's not a loss. Actually attending high-school, in a place where no one knows nor cares who or what he is gives him the chance to move on from all that's happened to him.

He knows that Laura would like him to go to therapy or something, but while he has no doubt that she would find a therapist in-the-know of the supernatural if he so much as gave an inkling to being willing to go… how would he ever explain twenty-years that haven't happened? That never will. Time-travel is a bit out there, even for those in the know of the supernatural. Especially because if asked Derek couldn't begin to tell them how he managed it in the first place (he's not sure even Stiles would know… might have to ask him some time…).

So, since therapy isn't an option, he writes. It starts as a sort-of journal, he just gets writing, without thinking too much about what, or any order at all. For his birthday/Christmas that year Laura gifts him a beautiful leather-bound notebook, so beautiful that he actually hesitates to write anything in it (something Laura teases him endlessly for, and he doesn't mind, he's happy to see her happy again).

In the end, and after much thinking it over, he writes his own story… or rather their story. He changes a lot of things of course, the names of the people and the places. The wolves become 'evolved humans' to justify the heightened senses and healing, Stiles is a human with a bag of tricks better than any wizard's, Lydia a fairy, the hunters are a paramilitary who want to either control or destroy all 'Others', the kanima becomes a curse, the alpha pack a group of 'gifted supremacists', the nogitsune a vengeful spirit, and so on and so forth.

In the end he needs a lot more than one notebook, but that's okay. By the time he's halfway satisfied with the first book (around the same time he finishes high-school) he knows what he wants to do with the rest of his life. It still takes the whole summer for Laura to convince him to actually look for an editor, and maybe an agent to actually get his book published. He agrees to the first but is too shy to go for the second, and then he meets Cam, who's both a writer and an editor and teaches him about independent publishing, and they get his book into the Amazon platform once it's ready.

He calls the first book 'Wolfmoon', because of the full moon in January, and because the story begins with the fire, which in another timeline happened in one such moon. He also adds some tidbits from things his mates told him once upon a time, changing them to fit the novel better, and so as not to betray their confidences. The cover is rather simple, a black wolf with bright blue eyes in front of a full moon, on a ridge, howling.

Laura tells him the book is great, but after several months he still hasn't gotten much response. Laura convinces several people she knows to buy them, convinces him to sign a few even. Though he does convince her not to go around telling people that her little brother is the writer. Which is particularly important considering that he decided to publish under a pseudonym: the name of Boyce Fox; and there's not even a picture of him anywhere, at his own request. Still, people don't seem to be too interested in his books for the time being. And he decides that's okay, he didn't become a writer in order to make money or get famous, it was just his way of dealing with things, his personal brand of therapy…

Though if he's honest, a part of him is honestly nervous what his mates might think, were they ever to read his books… would they love them? Hate him? Would they like the way he portrays each of them? Think it's too much? Would they understand why he's done it? Why he wrote those books and then even agreed to have them published? Or would they feel betrayed that he's allowing so many people to read about them? Will they still love him when he sees them again?

He doesn't study English, or Literature, though he knows it's what most would expect. The thing is, he already writes, he doesn't want to have someone trying to teach him how to do so. And it's not that he's so full of himself he doesn't think he could do better, because there's no doubt he could. But writing is therapeutic to him, it's his 'Me time', and the prospect of turning it into work, into 'homework' and having to align to other people's standards… he doesn't like the idea. So instead he decides to go into the "Language and Minds" program at NYU. He has a head-start in a way, since he already speaks four languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, and he also knows a bit of Irish, Latin (due to all the research he used to do with the pack, little of which was actually in English), and is doing his best to learn Polish (ever since Stiles told him and Lydia his real first-name, laughed at their attempts at pronouncing it and mentioned that only someone who could speak Polish fluently even stood a chance of pronouncing that monstrosity right Derek decided that he just had to do it, somehow, someday… he's hoping to be able to surprise his mate with that one day). Also, he's always been very interested in how learning new languages is said to affect a person's brain. So that helps ensure he's not distracted and… truth is that it's a challenging program, and he enjoys that. Enjoys realizing he's good at something, that even if he's not a genius like his mates, he doesn't need to, he can excel at something else.

**xXx**

They've been in New York for a bit over three years and the two of them are on their way back to their apartment after having dinner at their favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant to celebrate Laura's new job at the Metro General Hospital as an ER nurse (she graduated just a few weeks earlier) and Derek publishing his second book (even if his sells aren't that great, Laura convinces him that since he's kept writing he should also keep publishing) when Laura's phone rings.

"Yeah, I'm Laura… Marlene…?" She answers, still half laughing from something Derek said. "Wha… what is it? Is everything o…"

The phone falls from Laura's nerveless fingers and Derek makes an aborted attempt to catch it, only to have to redirect his attention when Laura collapses unexpectedly. They're still on the sidewalk, about half a block away from their apartment. Derek has no idea what' going on. While he could have listened in on a call, he does have some manners, so he didn't. And the fall caused Laura's phone to break, so it's not like he can call back whoever that was and ask what just happened exactly. His sister's in so much pain…

Afterwards Derek isn't quite sure how it is he manages to get Laura all the way to the apartment. She's completely gone, eyes unfocused, whiny, inhuman noises coming from her mouth. Derek lays beside her on the bed, holding her tightly through the night, trying to give her as much comfort as he can.

It's so late it's almost early, not long before dawn in fact, when Laura speaks for the first time since the fateful phone-call:

"The call… It was Marlene… Jordan's sister… step-sister, whatever," She murmurs, voice hoarse and wet from all the crying. "He's gone… Jordan's gone… my mate's dead!"

Derek hasn't the slightest idea what to say. He really isn't good at the whole feelings thing, never has been, even with the people who matter to him most. There's a reason why Cora chose to leave again, after the mess with the Alpha Pack and… everything else. He didn't live up to her expectations, her memories and dreams about what their pack used to be when their mom was alpha. She'd been so young and wished so hard… he could have never lived up to such expectations. But he knows that his absolute inability to talk about feelings didn't help. He could never explain to her just how much he truly loved her, how much he missed her, how much he wished he could have done things differently, could have found her earlier…

And then something hits him…

"Are you sure?" He blurts out before he can think of a better way to voice the question. "I mean… can you feel his absence, the emptiness in the bond?"

He cringes at his own words but he just needs to know.

"No." Laura shakes her head vehemently. "We… we didn't consummate the bond. We… we said we were too young, and he was going to be away for years. He didn't want to tie me down if I wanted to move on… but I loved him Derek!" Laura whines sub-vocally. "I truly did! I still do! I love him so much! Why did he have to die?!"

"Was his… his name… is it Jordan Parrish?" Derek finally manages to ask.

"Yes…" Something suddenly occurs to Laura. "How do you know that? I never introduced you!"

"No, you didn't." Derek agrees, not quite knowing how to explain things. "Lydia did. The two of them dated for a bit, I think?"

"Lydia…" Laura's voice trails off, her eyes going very wide as she understands the implications. "You knew him! In the other time?! But then… then… how?!"

She begins babbling all sorts of question: how long he knew Jordan? Was he okay? Did he ever talk about her? Did he know what happen to her? Did he even care? How could he possibly have been alive in the other time? Did something change? Did she do something and that's why he died now? Was it her fault somehow…?

"How would it even be your fault?" Derek cannot help his snort. "Nothing went wrong." He takes a deep breath before revealing his thoughts. "I… I don't think he's dead."

"What?!" Laura practically shrieks, sitting up abruptly.

"I…" Derek sit ups with her, scratching at the back of his neck, having no idea how to even begin to explain all the things he knows, and all the things he doesn't. "Parrish and I were never close. He was a Deputy, worked for Stiles's father. He dated Lydia briefly, before she and Stiles got together. I… Stiles told me that for the longest time they didn't actually know what he was exactly, only that he was 'something'."

"That's… that's not possible." Laura shakes her head emphatically. "Jordan's human, I'd know."

"I think he was, but not anymore. At least, not if events have remained as they were the first time around. See, I don't actually know everything, like I said, I was never close friends with the guy, and while he helped the pack a lot, I wasn't actually part of the pack at the time, as I believe I've told you before…"

"What do you know then?"

"According to Stiles, he told them that he was an EOD specialist or something. I… I think there was a bit of a miscommunication or a misunderstanding at some point. Because they almost make it sound like he had a bit of enhanced senses, either that or at least a 'sixth sense' for things, as he always seemed to know where there were explosives of some kind and he was very good at disabling them. Even against the odds. He had a perfect record until… well, until he died. Stiles said Parrish believed he'd gotten it wrong, once. Stiles for his part, believed that he'd known exactly what he was doing. That he weighed the odds and did what he could to save the greatest amount of people. See, his whole unit was dead by that point, they were caught in an ambush or something. And according to his file, the explosion that supposedly killed him should have been a lot worse that it was, killed a lot more people, civilians from a nearby village… and it didn't."

"The explosion… he died in an explosion?! But… but you said he's not dead."

"I cannot be sure of anything at this point Lo. But if this is the same guy, and if the events have truly repeated themselves, then no, he's not dead. I don't know how long it'll take, but he'll come back. Because they were on a small base near the mountains, away from the main bases, and because the rest of the unit did die, though that happened before the explosion, the higher-ups will believe that maybe he was taken by one of the military groups in the area, or even the villagers. He'll have forgotten everything, and after some treatment and therapy they'll give him a medal and an honorable discharge."

"He'll forget everything? Including… including me?"

Derek says nothing, though it's clear he doesn't think why it would be any different. He never did spend a lot of time with Jordan in the other future, that's true. But he's relatively certain that he never mentioned Laura. Derek's certain that if he'd mentioned her around either Stiles or Lydia they'd have told him.

"Okay…" Derek can see the moment conviction fills her eyes, she's made up her mind. "I suppose I'll just have to make him fall in love with me all over again." She nods to herself, kisses his cheek before jumping to her feet. "Thanks Der… now I'm taking a shower, I'm sure I reek." She's at the door already, a change of clothes in one hand, when she turns to look over her shoulder. "When is he returning to Beacon Hills? Do you know?"

"If things hold? 2012, sometime in the Spring, or maybe a bit earlier."

"2012… okay… I can work with that."

Derek cannot know for certain what she means with that, of course, but he has a feeling the next few years are gonna be bumpy.

**xXx**

Derek was right, the following years end up being some of the most intense of his life. Laura ends up working at Metro General for a couple of years after which she's certified as an Emergency Nurse; she makes some friends in that time but isn't that close to anyone, always completely focused on her objectives. After two years working at the hospital she quits and starts training first as an EMT, and later as a Paramedic. Meanwhile Derek gets his own Bacherlor's Degree in "Language and the Mind" he even graduates as part of the Honors Program, which makes his whole family very proud, his parents and siblings even fly to NY for the graduation ceremony. He takes a while before making up his mind and sending a third book to Cam.

With every book that gets published yet doesn't become a hit Cam keeps telling him that he just needs to be patient, that his moment will come, that he has talent… he doesn't understand that Derek's hesitation doesn't come from feeling disheartened over the lack of sales, but not being sure if he should even be publishing those novels at all.

And then it happens, when he's in his last year of college. Cam calls him to let him know that they've received a request from a group in France. Apparently while his books might not be that famous in America, they are in Europe. He has a fanbase and everything, people requesting he make an appearance, sign books, that sort of thing. Laura teases him good naturedly about it but when he hesitates a bit too long for her tastes she informs him he's going and that's that. So Derek gets on a plane and goes.

He gets two more such events during the course of his last year of college, one in the UK and the other in Canada. Then, right as the third book comes out and he graduates from College (he's already decided he's not interested in any graduate programs), Cam tells him that he just got a call from a colleague of sorts.

"Colleague is perhaps the wrong word." Cam shrugs as they video-chat. "Ana was Hyde's assistant when I was publishing under SIP. Hyde was a slimy bastard and one of the reasons I finally decided to open my own company. But Ana's good. I was a bit surprised that she made it to Fiction Editor so fast but I do know she's good. She follows the social networks, found out about you, and she rang me. She's interested in working with you. I'm not going to tell you if you should or shouldn't do it. The decision is all yours. Though, if you want my opinion, you ought to at least hear her out."

When the call's over Derek remains sitting on the floor, with his laptop in his lap, for several seconds, before eventually raising his head and focusing entirely on Laura, who's already looking at him from her favorite spot, just beside the huge window of their apartment.

"You know, I should have begun looking for a job the moment I got my Certification." Laura comments, without actually turning to look at him. "What's more, a couple of people I knew when I worked at Metro have offered to put in a good word with some guys they know, help me get a job but I just… I love New York but…"

"But this isn't where you want to be." Derek finishes for her.

"No." Laura admits.

"It's probably time to go back home." Derek agrees.

"It is," Laura nods. "But no one says we cannot take long-road there…"

Her smile is mischievous as she says it, and Derek cannot help but laugh. He just loves his sister so much! He loves his whole family really, but Laura has always been the one closest to him, even in the other timeline, before the fire… even when she kept giving him a hard time over the most ridiculous things, she was always his favorite sister, his best friend… Whatever might have happened to cause the time-travel, Derek will be forever thankful for it, for the chance to not just save their family from the fire, but to get Laura back, the Laura from before all the tragedy and the pain and… he's grateful, and he always will be.

**xXx**

They spend the summer in Seattle, in a little apartment they rent from a member of the local pack. Things go well with Derek, he likes Ana, she's young for a Chief Editor, but good at her job and she seems to understand him, to understand how strongly he feels about his novels, why he's flexible in some things and completely stubborn about others, never makes him feel like he has to change in order to be a good writer. What ends up surprising him is how, even though they spend less than three months there, they still manage to find trouble somehow, or rather trouble finds them, specifically, Laura.

The trouble comes in the form of a wolf from the Smith pack, just north of Seattle, the youngest son of the alpha. He starts by flirting with Laura, giving her compliments for anything and everything, then he starts sending her flowers, chocolates, small trinkets; but soon the gifts get bigger, and bigger. When he actually offers her a gold bracelet with several precious stones Laura snaps at him. That's when he makes his intentions clear: he wants Laura for a mate. Also, as it's soon made clear, he's such a prideful, obnoxious bastard that he thinks that whatever he wants he's always going to get. Derek realizes right away that he's not making offers of formal courting, he's not asking Laura to accept him as a mate, he's demanding, and what's more, he's acting as if he's the one who calls the shots. And when Laura tells him where he can stuff it…

Things devolve immediately. It doesn't just become an argument, but a fight. Derek sees, from the corner of his eye, his sister beginning to panic, just for a fraction of a second, and then he's there, clawing the bastard right across his face.

"If you dare touch her, I'll kill you!" He snarls at the other wolf.

"Fuck!" Smith snarls. "Who do you think you are?!"

"I am Derek Hale, brother of Laura Hale, the woman you saw fit to treat as if she were nothing more than a piece of meat!" Derek growls. "She? She's a Hale. More than that, she's the future Hale Alpha! And you? You're not even worth the dirt on her shoe!"

He can almost imagine Stiles cackling as he says those words, he knows he's laying it on thick, so what? He also knows Lydia would roll her eyes, but she'd also stand by him and his words 100%, both of them would. Because neither of them can stand bastards like Beta Smith.

"I'm gonna kill you for this!" Beta Smith half-snarls, half-whines as he gestures at the cuts on his face. "I'm gonna…"

"You're not even strong enough to heal from a single slash, made without any real intent, and you think you can take me on?" Derek chuckles darkly at the beta. "You're nothing but a stupid little boy trying to play at being the Big Bad Wolf. I'm warning you right now, if you come at me, I will kill you. If you keep bothering Laura, I will kill you. So do us all a favor and just go back to your mommy with your tail between your legs like the little puppy you actually are."

Smith hesitates for just a few seconds, and then Derek roars at him. He pales abruptly (which is a serious thing considering his dark skin), turns and flees.

Laura, who remained silent through the whole confrontation, places a hand on her brother's shoulder and calls to him quietly:

"Derek…?" She asks.

Derek turns to look at her, and he cannot fully read the look on her face, she looks… worried. And a bit angry too, but he's not completely sure if she's angry at him or at Smith…

"Are you angry at me?" He finally asks, because what else can he do? "I know you're the future alpha, but when I saw the way he was treating you I just…"

"No!" Laura cuts him off as she realizes what he's saying. "No, I'm not angry at you, I… I'm worried Derek. The Smiths… they're a very powerful pack, they rule over the rest of the packs in the Pacific Northwest. He could have killed you…"

"That whining baby?" Derek snorts, though, when seeing Laura's honestly worried expression he elaborates. "Lo, I know we never talk about it. Mostly because I really don't like doing so but… I'm not a little kid. And trust me when I say to you I've faced much, much worse that a blowhard bastard like him." Gerard Argent, Kate Argent (both before and after the werejaguar shit), and the Alpha pack all run through his mind; though in his mind the worst will always be the nogitsune, less for its power and more because never again does he want to see into his mate's eye and have them be so dark, so… empty. "He's nothing."

Laura actually stops and thinks about that. It wasn't that she didn't know about Derek's past/future and all that, because she did, she was the only one who did, it wasn't like she forgot. It was just that… Derek was her little brother, and he was just so gentle and kind and… soft most of the time. She's never actually stopped to think about some of the things he's told her, hasn't stopped to imagine what it must have been like, how strong he must have been, must still be, to have been able to survive all that…

Thankfully the trouble really does end there. They get a short missive from Alpha Smith a couple of days later, which is carried by their Emissary. It's an official apology to Laura for the liberties taken by his son, the lack of propriety and formality; and a thank you to Derek for not issuing an honor challenge.

"Oh wow…" Laura's honestly floored by that last part. "He's treating you like you're an alpha."

"But I'm not." Derek cannot help but point out.

"No but… Derek you didn't see yourself when you stood up to that bastard." She points out. "The way you stared him down… and I could have almost sworn your eyes actually changed colors for a fraction of a second."

"I did flash my eyes at him. That was intentional."

"Yes, I guessed as much but… but your eyes didn't flash blue. I… it was like… I almost thought your eyes flashed red, just for a moment…"

Derek snorts at the ridiculousness of the idea, and soon the two of them are laughing.

**xXx**

On the day they're set to return to Beacon Hills Derek cannot help but notice Laura looking off, it's clearly something's bothering her, even if she hasn't told him what.

"Hey," Derek catches her hand in his. "You know you can tell me anything, right? Whatever it is, I'm here for you. Always."

"I know, I… Marlene called me a couple of days ago. Told me that they found Jordan. Apparently they found him a few months ago, but he doesn't remember a thing. They flew him to Germany, did all they could to help him, and now they've discharged him, just like you said. He arrived to Beacon Hills last week and… he doesn't remember Marlene, and he doesn't remember me. She actually asked him. I… I know I said I'd make him fall in love with me again, and I do intend to do that but… But I've no idea how the hell I'm supposed to even begin to do that! I'm terrified! It's insane and…"

"It's not insane. Not at all Lo, I promise you. You think I'm not terrified about the day I'll see Stiles and Lydia again? I know they're my mates, I know I love them, and I… I do believe they loved me… but what if it doesn't work this time around? What if after all these years they no longer want me? What if they decide that since I abandoned them years ago I'm no longer worthy of their love?"

"Dumbass…" The watery smile takes almost all the bite out of the word, though she does smack him in the back of the head. "You know, mates are forever."

"Exactly." Derek smiles almost beatifically at her.

Laura can see what he's done, it makes her want to hit him, it also makes her want to hug him… what she doesn't know is just how long it took for Derek to truly get to that conclusion and most of all: to believe it. How many times he asked himself those exact questions he just voiced, and actually meant them. He still hesitates at times, fears what being away might be doing to his mates. That they might end up doubting his regard for them, because he chose to stay away for so long, and yet… they understood once already didn't they? Understood when he chose to walk away, to run away, after the mess in Mexico… and again after the war with Monroe… When it was only at the end of the world (of their world at least) that he found the courage to seek them out again. They understood and accepted him and loved him anyway. He can almost imagine how they'll react this time around, what they'll say. They'll tell him that he didn't have to do it, didn't have to try so hard, that he was worthy of them from the start; but they'll also understand why he did it, they'll accept his choices, and they'll love him anyway.

**xXx**

Their return to Beacon Hills goes as well as Derek would have ever dared expect. They move back into the main pack house at first, but it's soon made obvious that as much as they might have missed the pack, they've also come to enjoy having their own space. In the end their dad makes them an offer:

"There's a building, it's on the very edge of the Business District in town." Zach explains. "What used to be the Industrial District. We actually owned a number of buildings in that area, but have since sold most of them. This was was originally a warehouse, the idea was to have businesses and offices in the lower floors, and one or several apartments in the upper ones. However, the company that was working on them went broke before it could be finished and thus far no one's been interested in finishing it. The skeleton is all done. It even has the wiring, all utilities ready. In fact, the ground floor was in use until recently as a bakery. The business belonged to Mr. Stewart, who passed away a couple of months ago. We've been hoping someone might be willing to start a similar business, make use of everything that was left, but no luck thus far. The second floor is meant for offices, two. The top three floors can be fixed as several small apartments or a really big one. The basics in those is done, all they're missing is decorating and furnishings."

"Sounds interesting." Laura states when Derek just shrugs.

An hour later as the two of them arrive to the building in question, Derek comes dangerously close to breaking down either into sobs or hysterical laughter. Because the building is the very same where he lived once, in a time that is no more. He'd known the building was Hale property of course, but he never imagined… then again, why should he have? In the other timeline the whole area was known as the 'Old Industrial District' or the 'Warehouse District', because all around there were nothing but warehouses, half of them abandoned, the other half being used by hobos, junkies and all sorts of criminals. He chose to live there because it was easier, the building already belonging to him, and close enough to the preserve for him not to feel too trapped (and, while he might have never admitted it, he knew that he'd have never been able to rent a place in the better part of town, not when half the people there still believed him to be a serial-killer; and by the time they knew better it just didn't matter anymore).

After some thinking, Laura gets a job part-time as Emergency nurse in Beacon Memorial, the other half-time she's a paramedic. This is necessary as everyone in the Emergency Services are volunteers and thus the pay's minimum. Really, everyone there has another job in order to be able to make ends meet. Laura knows she could have handled it, her family would have supported her, but she wants to be able to fend for herself as much as possible.

Derek for his part continues with his writing. Ana's happy enough to keep in touch with him through phone and video-calls instead of in-person. Also, after much consideration, he decides to get a teaching license and after several months begins working as a substitute at BHH. Things get a bit insane then because somehow, with all the changes and the years they've been away, and the fact that Derek knew even before he and Laura were in Beacon Hills proper that Stiles and Lydia weren't there… somehow he managed to forget that there were others in that same age group whom he'd known at one point, whom he'd cared for, called pack… and he totally failed in anticipating how seeing them again would make him feel.

The first one he sees is Isaac. Except, he's not at all the Isaac Derek remembers. His name is now Isaac Whittemore, he's Jackson's adopted brother, captain of the swimming team, known in the school for having won all the competitions he's participated in. But the thing he's known most for, is for being an artist. He likes drawing, and is great at it. There are rumors that some of the best Art schools not just in California but as far as NY are offering him scholarships. And the most important thing for Derek is: he's happy.

It takes a while for Derek to find out how that all came to be, and once he does he cannot help but feel grateful that this Isaac didn't have to suffer the way the one he knew did. Also, apparently having Isaac for a brother has helped Jackson as well. Derek can see it, in some ways Jackson's still how Derek remembers him: rich, a tad cocky, captain of the lacrosse team; in others he's extremely different: there's an ease to the way he moves, acts, he's out as bisexual, and not just that, he's dating Danny! Derek only vaguely remembers Danny, the boy was never fully part of the pack, always in the background, kept at a distance, for his own safety more than anything else, and after the mess with the nogitsune he just left. Derek knows that he was responsible for the fake IDs Stiles and Lydia used while on the run; though he's no idea what might have been of him afterwards, doesn't think his mates know either.

The absence of Erica and Boyd worries him at first, until he hears from some gossiping girls about what happened to the Boyds… Apparently it was huge food for gossip, the woman who took her children and ran away, who was later found, her children returned to their father, who took them away. A part of Derek does miss Boyd, and yet, what'd they have in common? Nothing at all. What brought them together the first time around was loss, the loss of their respective families, their desire to find that kind of bond in other people; and thankfully neither of them has suffered like that this time around.

It's Laura who finds out what happened with Erica. When she overhears Peter talking on the phone about her. Laura recognizes the name as one of Derek's once-betas and tells her brother everything about it. The most important of all being the fact that she's living in San Francisco with her family nowadays. And this came to be because she was part of a test-trial for a new drug when she was ten or so and it worked; she's still epileptic but controlled.

"This cannot be a coincidence." He tells Laura when she finishes telling him about Erica. "Isaac, Boyd, Erica, even Jackson! They're all… their lives are nothing like they'd have been, like they were in the original timeline."

"But they're better, aren't they?" Laura asks, hesitant. "I mean, their lives being different is a good thing, right?"

"So good…" Derek nods. "Isaac… his dad was abusive Lo, it was… really bad. When I offered him the bite… we never talked about it but I know I thought that if I didn't he wouldn't live to graduate high school, the things that man did to him… heaped abuse on him and called it discipline! And Erica… I knew, when I chose those who'd be my betas, I knew I was taking advantage of their situations, to a point. Knew that they were the kind of people who were unlikely to refuse, because they'd want the benefits of getting the bite. I explained the downsides the risks and yet…"

"Oh no! You're not blaming yourself for the choices your betas made Der! I know they were bad, I know things went wrong. But their choices weren't on you."

"I was their alpha."

"Yes, yes you were, but their choices were still that: theirs. You couldn't have made them stay any more than mom could have kept us when we decided we wanted to go to New York… we all make our choices, good and bad."

"Still…"

"Do you wish that their lives were the same? So you could offer them the bite again?"

"No! Of course not. First of all, I'm not an alpha Lo, so even if I wanted I couldn't possibly offer them the bite… and second…" He trails off for a moment. "Even if I were, I wouldn't."

"Der…" It's clear Laura wasn't expecting that.

"Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't, not unless their lives were at stake, in any case. And that's just it, they don't need the bite now. Isaac's safe, Erica's healthy, and Boyd… they're all happy, they have families and friends. They don't need the bite, the pack, not the way they needed it before. And I don't need them either."

"No, you just need your mates."

Derek doesn't even bother trying to deny that.

**xXx**

A little over a year after the siblings' return to Beacon Hills or so there's a big scandal in the town when two high-school seniors run away from home. Derek, since he was subbing for the English teacher as she was on maternity leave, hears all about it: apparently the two teens in question are a couple, have been dating for about a year or so, rumors have it that the girl is pregnant, her parents pushed for an abortion but the girl refused; the tensions kept escalating until the pair chose to run away to elope. He almost swallows his tongue when he hears the names of the teens in question: while the name of Heather Rivers doesn't mean much to him, he certainly recognizes the other name: Scott McCall!

Meanwhile, the love story of Laura and Jordan seems to be the stuff of fairy-tales. Something Derek feels no compunction teasing her about. It starts when an ambulance is called to treat a woman with bruises and a concussion. She claims to have fallen down some stairs or something like that, but Laura can tell she's lying. She says nothing though, having learned while in New York that if a woman isn't ready to talk about her abuse, it's pointless to try and force her. Things become complicated though when it turns out that someone called the sheriff station when hearing the fight going on, even said it wasn't the first time. It's Jordan and his partner who answer the call. He sees the state of the woman and starts asking probing questions, which apparently make the man feel threatened, as he pulls out a gun.

Things get out of control real fast. As Laura does her best to protect the woman, while Jordan tries to disarm the man. He refuses to let go of his gun and when Jordan gets too close he turns and shoots at his girlfriend, Laura does her best to cover her with her body, and then Jordan gets in the middle. Through the whole thing everyone apparently completely forgets the fact that Jordan isn't alone; his partner, Tara, seeing that there's no reasoning with the man, shoots him before he can pull the trigger for the second time.

Hours later Laura starts her shift at the hospital, and her first patient turns out to be none other than Jordan, who keeps trying to convince the ER doctor to discharge him so he can go back to his work, despite the fact that he took a bullet to his flank. Laura, who knows already that he's supernatural, and is aware of what the protocols are regarding such situations, helps him get things done without calling attention to himself. And then, just before leaving Jordan goes and asks her on a date!

Derek almost falls off the couch with laughter when his sister finishes telling him about her day.

"Don't laugh at me Derek!" Laura half-snarls, half whines at him.

"What do you want me to do then?" He asks her, composing himself as best he can.

"Tell me what I'm supposed to do?!" She hisses.

"Isn't it obvious?" He drawls. "Go on a date with him! This is what you wanted, isn't it? The chance to make him fall in love with you again? He already did the hard part, he asked you out. You already knows he loves you. If he fell in love with you once, he'll do so again. He's the one for whom this is all completely new, and he still found the courage to try…" His expression softened. "You found your mate Laura, not once, but twice, that's the hard part. Everything else will come naturally if you just let it."

"So, I just go?"

"You just go. Be yourself. Love him and let him love you."

A smile comes to Laura's face and she drops beside Derek, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks…" She murmurs, so quietly only someone with supernatural senses would be able to hear her. "Love you, little brother."

"Love you too, big sister." Derek replies, placing a kiss on her temple.

It really is as easy as he claims. Over the next several months Laura's and Jordan's relationship flourishes. Until the point comes where, even though she's technically still living with Derek, she spends as many nights at Jordan's apartment as she does at the loft. Jordan knows everything about the supernatural already… everything but the fact that he's part of it himself at least. It'd seem that he knew some people while in the service. That revelation is the first sign that his memories aren't as fully gone as they might have once thought.

Also, he confesses to Laura that he knew about her already, that there was a connection between them. Apparently when the army first declared him KIA they sent a box with all his things to his step-sister, who kept the box in a closet for the most part. She gave it to him just before moving away to the East Coast due to a job opportunity. Among those things there was a set of pictures that had clearly been taken in a photo booth, they were of the two of them together: laughing, hugging, kissing… the last one was of them just staring into each other's eyes… And Jordan knew that even though he couldn't remember who Laura Hale was, he really wanted to. Even without any actual memories he couldn't help but be a little in love with her.

In short, Laura is perhaps the only person who can claim she got her mate to fall in love with her, twice, with no time-travel involved! Derek feels tempted to write a novel separate to his little series, just about them…

**xXx**

If one thing manages to catch Derek by surprise, it is the relationship that forms between Peter and Sheriff Stilinski or, as he insists they all call him: Noah. Derek's not blind, he knows Peter still loves Olivia, he always will, she was his mate; and yet he still loves Noah, just as much. And it's not that he's taken the place of his old fiancée, just like Derek's quite sure that Peter'll never take the place of Claudia Stilinski, and yet… A part of Derek wonders how it all would work if those two women had never died. Then again, perhaps if they hadn't died Peter and Noah would have never been more than friends. The best of friends certainly, but nothing more than that.

Derek doesn't understand how it works, none of them do, really. Mates… while it's not like the fairy-tales might portray it, the bond is certainly strong. It's not one any of them would ever doubt. It's not something automatic, though he does know that when there's a compatibility, the wolves inside them notice. He certainly did, where it came to Stiles and Lydia, even if his own issues kept him oblivious to most of it. To all of it except for one thing. He trusted them, almost from the very beginning, he trusted Stiles and Lydia, whatever claim to the contrary:

" _Could you just trust me this once?"_

" _No!"_

" _I'm the one keeping you alive, okay, have you noticed that?"_

" _Yeah… And when the paralysis wears off, who is gonna be able to fight that thing, you or me?"_

"' _Cause that's why I've been holding you up the past two hours..."_

" _You don't trust me, I don't trust you. And you need me to survive, which is why you are not letting me go."_

And because Stiles seemed to take everything Derek said back then as either an insult or a challenge, of course he'd choose that exact moment to let go of Derek and go after his phone. Though if Derek was honest with himself (which, granted, he usually wasn't, not back then), truth was that that hadn't been what surprised Derek that day. No, the surprise came when Stiles chose to go back to him. When the teenager dove into the deep end of the pool, pulled him up and went back to trying like hell to keep Derek alive.

Derek honestly doesn't remember if he'd trusted Stiles before that day, he certainly kept going back to him, insane and ridiculous as it should have been. One thing was for sure though, he'd trusted Stiles after that day. Even when Scott betrayed him, even when that absolute disaster with Gerard happened, never did Derek believe Stiles to have been part of it all. He just knew the teen wouldn't betray him, break their trust in each other…

Things with Lydia were different of course. First there was Jackson, and Peter's bite, and the mess with the kanima. And even thinking that he'd once said he'd kill anyone, kill her, if she turned out to be that abomination… he knows he wouldn't have been able to do it, knows it without a sliver of a doubt. But just remembering that the threat ever crossed his lips, it still makes him cringe.

In any case, even if they might not understand how it can be possible, they're all happy that Peter and Noah have found each other. They deserve whatever happiness they might find in each other. There's one moment though, when it seems like it won't happen. When Peter's tries a bit too hard, pushes a bit too far, and unexpectedly Noah takes off. He leaves town for a couple of days, just after New Year's. No one knows where he went to, not even Jordan.

Two days later though he's back. He arrives to the Hale House, where they are coming together for Sunday lunch, a tradition even though half of them don't actually live in the main pack house anymore and haven't for a while. None of them recognize the sound of the car at all, but the moment the car door opens they do recognize Noah's scent. Peter's out of his chair and at the door before anyone can say a single word. They expect to hear some sort of greeting and for one, or hopefully both of them to go inside… it doesn't happen.

Cora's the first to run out of patience as she jumps out of her chair and rushes to the door, ignoring her mom's hisses about staying on her seat. The low shriek is enough to have the rest of them out of their chairs and rushing to the door. Just in time to see the end of what must have been a very, very long kiss between Noah and Peter. Noah's still cradling Peter's face between his hands in fact and… Derek's never seen his uncle look so… bashful? Young? Happy… that's it, Peter looks perfectly happy in that moment. Like he doesn't even care that his whole family's staring at him, witnessing what he probably would have preferred be a private moment.

His mom says something about the food getting cold, and his dad suggests they go back to eating, and of course Noah should join them. Derek says nothing, he just watches the two men walk back into the dining room hand in hand, and a part of him wishes really, really hard that he'll be able to hold his mates' own hands soon.

He has no idea just how soon that will be…

**xXx**

After finding out what's become of his old betas, Derek begins to investigate what else Stiles and Lydia might have done, because he never doubts they're responsible for it all. It's just like them, or more precisely, just like Stiles, to get a second chance and use it to make sure as many people as possible get to be happy, not just himself.

It takes a while, but eventually he finds out what's happened with Eichen House, with Raeken. He needs but one class with the freshmen to be assured there are no Chimeras, and Liam Dunbar most definitely isn't a werewolf. He has no idea what the situation is regarding the nogitsune, but has no doubt that if Stiles got working into making sure their once enemies would not be a problem this time around, the freaking fox was probably the first on the list. Kate and Gerard Argent are both dead, while Allison and her parents have never been to Beacon Hills as far as he knows, in fact, according to the "Argent Arms" website, they're based in Florida.

Monroe… she does cause him some stress. The first time Derek sees her, in his second year subbing for BHHS, he almost wolfs out. Until his mind comprehends what he's actually seeing: she's crouched in the middle of the hallway, helping a boy pick up some books he apparently dropped at some point. She's smiling, and it's not the cold, cruel smile of a hateful hunter, but a sincere, gentle one, the smile of a good woman, of a guidance counselor. Because that's what Tamora Monroe is in that reality, that's all she is: a high-school teacher, a guidance counselor, she has no reason to be anything else. It's impossible to know for sure if she knows about the supernatural or not, but it's clear she's not the same woman who tried so hard to kill them all in another time.

Malia's right there, she's his cousin, Peter's daughter: Malia Hale; and he's no doubt that if the Desert Wolf ever so much as threatened a hair on her head, Peter would deal with it, with her. Also, about two years after his and Laura's return to BH Malia and Cora took off, intending to 'backpack through the continent'; which they did for almost three years before returning with a third person in tow: Malia's mate: Kira Yukimura.

It's been almost a month since then. Their mom managed to convince Kira to get in touch with her parents, if only to let them know she's alright; though thus far she's refused to tell them where she is exactly. Derek doesn't actually have all the details. All he knows for sure is that Kira's parents never told her about her being kitsune, her powers 'awakened' rather abruptly when she was in an accident, and if it hadn't been for Malia and Cora things would have been much worse than they actually were. It was his sister and cousin who explained things to Kira, calmed her down, taught her control, everything. Afterwards Kira decided to drop out of college (she apparently never wanted to go in the first place) and decided to go with them when the two weres left town to continue their road-trip.

He has a very heartfelt conversation with Cora one night in the middle of the preserve as they're all on their full-moon run. Actually the pack has pretty much split, couples basically looking for quiet corners (and he really, really doesn't want to think about his parents like that, or Uncle Peter and Noah, or Aunt Mandy and her husband, Laura… anyone in his family really!). The twins are humans, and as they're old enough already (and Philip, who used to babysit them, has since moved with his own boyfriend), they stay home watching over Oliver, and Matty (Aunt Mandy's and Uncle Bobby's only child).

"Is something wrong with me?" The question comes out of nowhere.

He and Cora, being the only werewolves not paired up, tend to stick together when the couples take off in different directions. Malia used to hang out with them, until the roadtrip, until Kira…

"Why would you think that?" Derek asks, not understanding.

"It's just… I see everyone pairing off, finding mates, and I just don't see what's so great about it." Cora admits with a shrug. "I mean, I've nothing against it, don't take me wrong. I just cannot imagine myself like that. I met so many people during that road-trip and I never found someone I felt truly attracted to. I even… I slept with a few, not many, I'm not a slut or anything…"

"I wouldn't think that of you, no matter how many people you slept with." Derek reassures her.

"Thanks. But that's just it. I don't see the point to it all. I mean, I'm not repelled by sex, but I just don't see what's so awesome about it."

"It doesn't interest you."

"No. Do you… am I broken?"

"Wha…? Of course not Cora! There's nothing wrong with you. People are different. Some people like those of the opposite sex, some like those of their same sex, some like both, don't care… and some just aren't interested. And there's nothing wrong with any of them."

Cora remains quiet for several very long seconds, until eventually a grin forms on her lips, she lays her head on Derek's shoulder.

"You're a good big brother Der." She announces, closing her eyes peacefully.

The feeling those words, coming from her, evoke, is a high like none he's ever known.

With all those situations handled, one way or another, it leaves only one: the Alpha Pack.

It takes Derek next to forever to find out what's happened to most of them, though eventually he does. Kali, Ennis and a third, unknown individual are dead, judging by the pictures, Derek's fairly certain the third is none other than Jennifer Blake, or rather: Julia Baccari. At least, he hopes it's her, hopes that looking like a 'horror movie reject' (as Stiles described her real looks once) isn't something that's happened more than once. Much as a part of him might hate Jennifer, for all the things she did, all the people she killed, for the way she used him, and especially for how close she came to killing Cora and Stiles's dad… he also feels pity for her, for what her lover did to her, and for what? Power?

The Carver pack was never attacked by the Alpha Pack (probably because, for all intents and purposes there is no alpha pack, or at least, not anymore). Derek is glad that they never managed the level of bloodshed and destruction they were known for in the other timeline. At the same time though, he remembers hearing Lydia and even Jackson talk about how badly the twins had had it with their original pack… which prompts Derek to help them, if indirectly. Laura helps him with that one, sending a message to one of their allies in Nevada, the Salgado Pack; the Carvers are their neighbors, hopefully they'll be able to do something to help.

Marin Morell isn't even in the country. Apparently she decided to travel to Canada a few months after Deaton was officially declared dead and hasn't returned since. While she was never strictly an enemy, he agrees with Stiles that, being the Alpha Pack's Emissary she was at least partially responsible for all the death and destruction they caused. If she's staying far, far away from him and his so much the better.

Which leaves only one individual: Deucalion.

Almost as if his thoughts, his research, were some sort of spell, of summoning, Deucalion shows up. It's early spring and things are going nuts all around: with Jordan's and Laura's upcoming wedding, Stiles's and Lydia's planned return (he's no idea when, but hopefully soon), and Mandy and Bobby's newborn daughter. No one's expecting it when the blind werewolf suddenly arrives to town, requesting a meeting with the Hale Pack.

That's not how it's supposed to be done. There should have been official missives, requests being made, the communication should have taken place between Emissaries… then again, Deucalion doesn't have one of those, neither do the Hales… or technically they do, they have two in fact, even if they aren't back in town just yet. Still, either because she still holds a certain regard for the alpha, feels bad for what happened to him all those years ago, or simply because she's a good person, Talia agrees to the meeting.

Deucalion arrives to a clearing just past the edge of what's legally considered Hale land (it's still Beacon County, which means that, in supernatural terms, is still their land; but it isn't actually part of their property, so it's not part of their pack home).

Deucalion enters the clearing calmly, and more than that, he acts like he owns the place, like he has all the power, and expects to get everything he wants, almost without even having to ask. It rubs Derek in all the wrong ways. Even worse than the bastard in Seattle who saw Laura as little more than a breeding-mare. Also, he knows Deucalion is at his most dangerous when he's acting so at ease. Because that attitude, that confidence, is not quite as fake as most would like to believe. If Deucalion believes he can get anything he wants, there is a reason.

Derek doesn't really pay attention to what Deucalion's saying, far more focused on the way he moves, his mannerisms. Those matter more, he knows. Truth is, Derek wasn't expecting Deucalion to be a problem. Last he knew, in the other timeline, the alpha was working on taking in orphaned wolves, omegas, seeking to help them before they went feral. He was loyal to Scott. So much he answered the young alpha's call when the situation with Monroe turned critical… and it ended costing him his life. Somehow, through his whole analysis and research, Derek managed to forget the reason why Deucalion was even on their side at the end. Scott…

Derek will never fully understand how Scott did it. The boy was such a contradiction, refusing to accept his wolf for so long, to see the bite as a gift; and yet at the same time, once he learned control, he didn't falter, and when the going got tough, he didn't give up. He became an alpha, regardless of the circumstances, and while it was clear that it wasn't easy for him, bearing such a great responsibility over his young shoulders, he still did his best. He protected everyone he could. Yes, he failed, many times, in many ways; but then so did Derek. It was one thing they had in common, Scott and he, two wolves who never intended to be alphas, who weren't ready for it. And yet they tried. Scott had a very special talent, the way he was capable of making others, even those who were supposed to be his enemies, see things his way. He managed to survive more than one meeting with Araya Calaveras, could convince Chris Argent to take his side, even after the loss of Allison, and he turned Deucalion to their side…

It somehow didn't occur to Derek, that with all the ways everything had changed, Deucalion had no reason to be on their side. And they had no way to convince him. No darach to save him from, no life-or-death situation to help him reconsider things… no naive, hopeful boy to push and press until he gets what he wants…

It's the words 'mate' and 'Laura' that finally pull Derek back to reality. He can hear low growls coming from his pack, and his mind pieces together the things he'd mostly tuned out until then. He might not have been paying attention, but that doesn't mean he wasn't listening at all. When he processes that Deucalion just announced his intention to form a new pack, one formed by blood, as he believes it'll beget him more loyalty than one of turned wolves, Derek can only wonder if he really thinks it's that simple. Then again, the bastard murdered his old pack! Derek can, maybe, understand killing the one who turned on him, believing that because he was blind Deucalion wasn't the right alpha to lead their pack, but that wasn't on the rest of them! And then he realizes the relevance of those words: 'mate' and 'Laura'… Deucalion wants to form a new pack, and he wants Laura to give it to him, to be his mate, to have his children!

"I'm afraid that's not gonna be possible Duke." Derek has no idea how his mom manages to stay cordial, but she does. "My daughter already has a mate."

"That's easily resolved." Deucalion states smoothly.

Derek's moving before anyone else on their side. He's practically moving even before Deucalion. Peter moves fast too, he's been tracking Duke's moves… but he doesn't know the blind were like Derek does; and most importantly, he doesn't know that Deucalion isn't blind all the time…

Deucalion evades Derek's tackle in the last moment, his alpha-reflexes giving him an advantage over Derek's beta-level abilities. Still, it's enough to keep him from attacking Jordan, which was his intention, as Derek has realized. Laura shrieks as she too realizes it, but Derek says nothing, he doesn't so much as turn to look at his sister, knowing it'd be a huge mistake to turn his eyes away from his opponent even for half a second. He's right, as Deucalion is on the move again almost immediately. It's clear he expects Derek to be distracted by Laura's wordless cry; but Derek isn't. The fight truly begins. The two weres trade blows. It's nothing too serious, not yet. Derek because he doesn't want to give away too much, though he knows that just being able to keep up is already revealing a lot; he knows Duke's testing him, trying to discern what kind of person Derek is.

Derek knows he could step back. That it's what's expected of him. He's just a beta after all, and a young one at that. His mother's the alpha, and his Uncle Peter the left hand, they're the ones who're expected to fight, to protect the pack however necessary. But while Derek knows how capable they are, especially Peter. He knows Deucalion better than they do. His mom's an alpha, but Deucalion is an abomination, having absorbed the power of the pack he destroyed, and however other many weres he might have killed since. And even if the power weren't an issue, his mom's just too kind. Peter on the other hand, he's vicious and ruthless enough, but he doesn't have the kind of power necessary to defeat Duke. Neither does Derek for that matter… but then again, it's not the first time that he's so completely out of his depth in a fight… There was Peter, and the kanima, Kate, Gerard, the Calaveras, Ennis, Deucalion, the Berserkers, and so many others; though none as strong and terrible as the nogitsune… as the fucking void fox that dare use his own mate against him!

It's that last fact, the reminder that he's faced worst and survived, managed to thrive, that even at the end of his last life… he might have regretted some things, mainly knowing that his lovers wouldn't be far behind him, because there was just no way they'd run, that they'd abandon him, even in death. But at the same time, he didn't regret it, didn't regret them, he never could. And he really hopes that he'll soon have the chance to tell them that.

It's that understanding, that acceptance of his past, his present and their future that gives him the clarity he needs, as he reaches deep inside himself and grasps the power he needs to defeat Deucalion. The power that's always been his, even if he hasn't used it before, not in his current life. That's always been there, on the edge, waiting for him to just… take it.

Derek drops into a lower crouch, balancing on the balls of his feet, shifting his center of gravity just a bit. His electric blue eyes close just briefly, and when he opens them again they're no longer blue but a strong, bright red… And he roars. A roar of power, of challenge, of protection, of an alpha going into battle.

It's so easy in that moment. It's… being an alpha is just natural for him. Like he's been one all along, like the power's been right there, waiting for him, from the start, from the moment he opened his eyes and started his day with a feeling of deja-vu…

He was an alpha when he died; he was, for all intents and purposes, the Hale Alpha. It's almost funny because his mates never asked him how he became an alpha the second time around. They knew he was one, and aside from briefly congratulating him about his status (Stiles) and being grateful for it (Lydia), they never talked about it. Chances are they thought he'd come across some alpha and killed them, either in self-defense or for whatever other reason. They wouldn't have held it against him, he knows. Even if he'd gone after an alpha, seeking to regain that kind of power. Yet it wasn't that simple. Truth be told, Derek wouldn't have known what to tell them. How could he explain to them that no alpha attacked him, nor did he go looking for one? That he never sought it at all, it just happened. He doesn't know why, or how, though he does remember the exact moment. When he found out everything that had been going on, when he decided to look for them, for Lydia and Stiles? To look for them, find them, be with them… Something in that choice, it was like flipping a switch, as the power just rushed over him.

It's not much different than what's happened to him now, in fact. The only difference is perhaps that this time he knows what he's doing, and more than that, it's an actual choice on his part. He's choosing to reach into himself, to take the power he knows already is there and embrace it completely. And so Derek Hale becomes an Alpha… again.

"That's impossible!" Deucalion snarls. "You… you of all people! You cannot be a True Alpha!"

Derek actually snorts at that. He's always thought that the whole 'true alpha' shtick was nothing more than bullshit, at least the way Deaton told it. Then again, as they've since learned, Deaton himself was full of bullshit! (and while their parents might not have told him and Laura how they know everything they do, he's no doubt Stiles and Lydia are involved). They might even know about the whole time-traveling thing… though he's not quite ready to reveal himself, not just yet. He doesn't know how…

So, he still thinks that the True Alpha Deaton told them about is bullshit, that it's just something he made up to conceal all the dark-magic he was doing, in his quest to take the Hale alpha spark from them (from him) and pass it on to someone he could use (like Scott). But he supposes that doesn't mean that True Alphas do not exist at all. He'd heard the term before Deaton ever mentioned it, even if he couldn't remember the exact legend back then. In the most basic terms, it is about a were who rose to Alpha status, not by taking the power from someone else, not by force, but through sheer force of will. Which, he supposes, is what he's done…

They fight for a couple of minutes, each trying hard to get their claws into the other. But while there's no doubt that Deucalion is stronger than Derek, the younger Alpha is used to fighting with disadvantages, and knows how to turn things in his favor. Also, while having two inches on his opponent might not seem like much, he uses them for all they're worth. And finally, while he cannot know for certain, he's almost sure that even as worn-out and barely existing as his mating bonds are, they're enough that, along with him being a Hale, the territory recognizes him and is aiding him, giving him just a little more strength, a little more speed, just enough to allow him to hold his ground against his opponent.

Deucalion doesn't like it. That'd be clear even without his growling and snarling his displeasure. He was expecting an easy win, obviously. Strong and respected as the Hale pack might be, they have been at peace for so long… Deucalion was certain that they wouldn't be ready for war, and Talia would never want to risk her children. It's the downside to having a pack that is all blood, you don't want to send them out when you know they're likely to be killed. Deucalion was sure that he would get what he wanted. A Hale for a mate, for a broodmare. He'd build himself a new pack, one with the blood and the power of the best wolves in the country… he never expected Derek. But more than that, he never expected him, or anyone at all, to not just try but actually be able to stand up to him. It shouldn't be possible! He's the alpha of alphas! The apex of all apex predators! He's the Demon Wolf! And a cub who wasn't even supposed to be an alpha cannot possibly defeat him!

Deucalion rolls to avoid yet another swipe of Derek's claws, except that instead of trying to get closer, he puts more distance between them. He's finally accepted that he's not likely to get close enough to destroy the young alpha, not like that. Doesn't mean he's going to play fair though… So with that in mind, he brandishes his cane like he would a sword… or a spear. He doesn't need it for its original purpose right now, he can see just fine, through the red of his alpha eyes… And when he has the power of the Nemeton he'll regain his eyesight, and then everything he's always wanted will be his… And if the little bitch refuses to be his, there are other fish in the sea, the sister will work just as well. Though of course, he's not the kind of man who takes no for answer, he'll punish her for her rejection…

Derek's not at all surprised by Deucalion's little spear, he's seen it before after all. What does surprise him is when instead of using it against Derek, He throws it instead… Laura's horrified shriek pierces straight through Derek as if it were a wolfsbane bullet. He's no idea who's just been hit, was it Jordan? Cora? His mom? His dad?! He doesn't know, and though it kills him, he doesn't turn, he doesn't because he knows that's exactly what Deucalion wants, it's why he did what he did. He's expecting Derek to turn around, to focus so much on his worry that he won't see Duke's next attack coming. Which is exactly why Derek does the complete opposite of that: he attacks.

Deucalion actually falters, he clearly wasn't expecting that to be Derek's reaction; and that's it, that fraction of a second is all the opening the new alpha needs to rip the older one's throat out… not quite with his teeth, but there's no need to be such a savage (or so Lydia would say) and his claws work just fine.

Derek only turns his back on Deucalion when he's 100% sure the were is truly dead, and won't be getting back up. He almost feels tempted to cut his head off and set his remains on fire just to be on the safe side (Kate and Gerard's repeated returns from 'death' taught him it's a bad idea to not ensure that when an enemy's down, it stays down).

The scene that greets him one of absolute chaos. Jordan is on the ground, Deucalion's cane/spear through his chest, Laura's on his knees beside him, sobbing and begging him, while the rest of the pack stand back, seemingly not knowing what to do. Derek says nothing, he just walks to Jordan and, without a word, grasps the cane and pulls it out.

Jordan roars in pain, Laura shrieks in desperation, Cora and Malia are cursing him and Kira's just staring, horrified. But Derek pays no attention to any of them, he just throws the cane to a side and then drops to his knees, pulling his sister in his arms.

"Shh… take it easy Lo…" He murmurs, holding her tight. "It's alright, everything's alright."

"That's… that not…" Laura doesn't understand, how can Derek think anything will be alright? "He got in the way… Deucalion was attacking me!"

"It's alright Lo, I promise you..." Derek does his best to sooth her.

"Jordan got in the way, he was protecting me."

"Trust me Lo. Look, he's healing already."

"Protec… protecting the baby…"

The two of them are practically speaking over each other, which is probably the only explanation for why, at the same time Laura turns to look at her fiancé in shook, at the smoking hole in his chest which is, even in that moment closing up… Derek's own head snaps towards her, or more precisely, her stomach. She's pregnant… his sister's pregnant! He'd no idea. It's probably early enough in the pregnancy that the baby's heart hasn't even begun to beat yet… though it is there, the trace of a slowly changing scent. And it's not just the way that Jordan and Laura are a part of each other's scents, but there's something else in hers, something new, the scent of a new, developing life…

Jordan opens his eyes then, glowing the red-orange that reveals his status as a hellhound. Laura lets out another shriek, this time a joyful one as she throws herself at him, hugging him tight, whispering promises of love and devotion… and of maiming if he ever dare leave her, because that's just Laura.

Derek says nothing, just remains where he is, on his knees, beside his sister, contemplating everything that's just changed: his sister's getting married and having a baby, and he… he's an alpha. He's no idea what he's gonna do now. As much as a part of him missed the power, and the connection to his mates, there's a reason why he wasn't an alpha before this day, he wasn't ready for it, he's not sure he's ready, though there's no turning back now. He's an alpha and that's that.

**xXx**

"They thought it was Laura."

The fight is over. Deucalion's body has been torn to pieces, set on fire and the ashes scattered; because apparently Derek is neither the only paranoid one in the pack, nor the worst off, by far. Jordan and Laura are back in her old bedroom in the house, as Talia flat-out refused to let them go anywhere so soon after everything happened. Laura managed to keep her composure as she checked him over, made sure he was alright, then surrendered to her instincts and curled up around him, refusing to move an inch. Everyone is inside the house, doing this or that, trying very hard to keep busy. While Derek sits on the steps leading from the back porch of the house and into the backyard, watching the spot where Peter tore Deucalion's body apart and then set him on fire. Peter's who's in that moment standing with his back against the door-frame.

"What?" Derek blinks, not understanding what Peter's talking about.

Peter just stares at him for a few seconds, probably wondering if Derek's playing coy, or if he truly has no idea what his uncle's talking about him. When all the new Alpha does is blink at Peter in incomprehension, the left-hand decides to take it easy… for him.

"When Stiles and Lydia first revealed to us about their time-traveling situation, they were very careful about the things they told us." Peter explains candidly. "They told us the basics of their story, but were careful to keep out most of the names that weren't each other's, or their families'. They didn't hide the fact that they'd known me, or other Hales, but never said any names, even with me, it was mostly Stiles's vague comments. They spoke of their alpha, and they made no secret that it was a Hale, but they were very careful to never say their name, didn't even say if it was a boy or a girl… though we did realize that they, both of them, were the alpha's mates."

"And you're telling me that mom thought that it was Laura, that she was their alpha." Derek sighs as he finally understands what Peter meant with his initial comment. "Wait, then what did she think when Laura mated with Jordan?" He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. If you said mom thought, that means you thought otherwise?"

"We both did." Peter shrugs. "Deep down. Your mom just didn't want to know, not really. Because acknowledging it meant facing the fact that another child of hers died. She could barely deal with the fact that the pack was thoroughly decimated in this other timeline, that it'd have happened again if a child hadn't done something completely nuts and ended saving us all. I know that she held on by telling herself that the Hale Pack survived, to a degree, that as long as there was a Hale Alpha there was hope…"

"Yeah, hell of a lot of hope there was." Derek snorts.

"Was there really nothing that made things worth it?" Peter pressed. "Not even your mates?"

"Of course they did! Otherwise I'd have died a hell of a lot sooner than I actually did."

Peter doesn't say anything else. He doesn't ask Derek about the other timeline, or why he stayed away from Beacon Hills so long, not even why he hasn't reunited with his mates yet. Either he doesn't care, or he understand that Derek must have his reasons (probably a bit of both).

"They're coming back next week." Peter announces suddenly.

"What?!" Derek isn't expecting that.

"Stiles and Lydia." Peter elaborates. "Got a call from Lydia a couple of days ago, asking if the penthouse that Natalie used to rent was available, at least until they found something better. I told them I'd something better than that. I was planing on letting them stay at my old apartment, indefinitely since Oli, Mal and I are now living with Noah at his place. Mal and Kira will probably want their own place sometime soon as well and I'll have to see about it when the time comes… Unless you think you have something better to offer them…"

Derek doesn't even have to think about it: "I do."

With the upcoming wedding Laura has moved out of the loft and with Jordan. Since then he's been slowly but surely making small changes to the place. Nothing huge, and while he never admitted the reasons for any of the renovations, he knows that he's been getting the place ready for his mates. And now… the time's come. The time to see them again: Stiles and Lydia, his mates, the two people he loves most in the world. He can hardly wait.

**xXx**

Hours later, after the mess with Deucalion is over and he's had a shower, Derek spends a very long time just standing in his bedroom in the loft. The room that's always been too big, with a King-sized bed and the softest Egyptian-cotton sheets. All the furniture is handmade, by one of his uncles; the whole room is made in warm earthy-browns and various shades of green, as if trying to mimic the forest; and the ceiling… it's made entirely of glass. Thick bullet-proof one-way glass, allowing for privacy, while at the same time, letting the view of the night sky in… The windows can also be covered with automated panels, to ensure that the sun is no bother.

The whole place is so much, almost too much; certainly would be for any one person, but from the very beginning Derek has been working towards the future he wants, the future he's always wanted: one with his mates by his sides, in his bed, in his life…

The loft-apartment consists of three floors, one more than what was available to him in the original timeline. The main one, which is the same as before, except this time he's taken over the whole space, not just one part. It's all open plan: A huge kitchen, with all kinds of appliances and kitchenware, everything is state of the art. The cabinets are made of warm-wood, a lighter shade than the floors, the counter-tops of marble-styled quartz. Every single detail carefully planned, it's the kitchen of Stiles's dreams… or so Derek hopes. There's a big island, and after that a big dining-room, which Derek honestly doubts will be used much, except perhaps a few romantic dinners (if he's lucky). And the rest of the space is the sitting room. The TV, blu-ray, game system and collection of games and movies half hidden behind panels. Like before one wall is almost fully made of windows (though they look much better than they did back then). Where there used to be a hole in the wall, it's been fixed into a sort-of-hallway, it leads to that floor's bathroom, a small guest-bedroom and what Stiles called the 'cuddle room', back when the three of them would spend what free time they might have, planning their dream house, the place they'd build for themselves once the danger was past, once they settled down, lived in peace… it took them much longer than he ever imagined, or wished, but perhaps it's how it was supposed to be…

The top floor holds the master-bedroom, its en-suite (very luxurious) bathroom, a small terrace, and a sort-of inside balcony from where they can look down into the main part of the main floor. That floor can only be accessed through a staircase at the end of the small hallway. He decided to remove the original spiral staircase when he finished opening up most of the main floor, knowing that the top-floor was meant to be their private sanctuary and not wanting to give anyone who might one day visit easy access to it.

It's almost funny because from the very beginning Derek's been readying the place for them, for all three of them, even if he didn't admit it out-loud, not even to himself. His time in New York allowed him to do the things he never could the first time around: finish high-school, get a degree, find a job he could do, be good at and enjoy. And yet it was until he returned to Beacon Hills that he truly built a life he's proud of, a life he can hardly wait to show to his mates.

The lower floor can be accessed through the elevator, though he also added a more private way there, in the form of a half-concealed staircase beside the one leading to the bedroom.

The lower floor of the apartment holds their private offices. Places for each of them to be able to work in privacy whenever they need to. One for him to write his books, another for Lydia to conduct on her experiments, and a third for Stiles to work on whatever research he might have going at any given time. It also has a small half-bathroom, a spare-room, and half-concealed past the entrance into their offices is the access to the private staircase leading into the main-floor.

Derek stares at the triskele on his upper back in the full-body-sized mirror in the bedroom, that Saturday night. He tends to do that a lot, especially on the days when it… almost buzzes, like some kind of energy beneath his skin. He knows it has to do with his mates, with their bond, because even if they haven't consummated in this timeline, if they haven't so much as touched since being thrown back twenty years… they're still mates. Whatever it is of them that was sent back: their minds, their souls, spirits… they're still connected on an essential level. They probably always will be. He knows the triskele is a physical manifestation of that bond. It's why he has it, even though he's never gotten a tattoo in this timeline. And he knows he's not the only one, according to Peter, both Stiles and Lydia have it too.

He's still feeling the effects of the Rise. It's not as bad as the first time, he's not feeling an imperious need to go out and bite the first individual who crosses his path and agrees to it. He doesn't need betas, not yet. Which is definitely a good thing, they really don't need a repeat of Jackson… and much as he might have loved all three of his betas, he wouldn't bite them again, not unless it were absolutely necessary, and even in that case, he wouldn't choose to be their alpha. It wouldn't be fair, not to them, and not to himself. He knows part of the reason why he's not going nuts is that he already knew what to expect, after becoming an alpha (twice) in the other timeline, the rush didn't take him as much by surprise. Even if his body is different this time around, because of everything he's done and been through differently, his mind still remembers. In the end it truly is 'mind over matter'. He also has no doubt that his mates have something to do with it, even as basic as their bond might be for the time being, it's enough to ground him, for them to tether him. It makes him wonder if they know, if they felt the power, the rush, the sense of victory once Deucalion was dead… if they understood what it all meant.

Still, while all that's well and good, he just couldn't stay back at the Pack house. The Hale Pack House… can he be a Hale still when he's his own alpha right now? He doesn't know, he's never been anything other than a Hale and yet… it meant something different back then. He no longer has that mix of guilt, and grief and the imperious need to do something to be worthy of the Hale name, to ensure that it wouldn't end up as just another pack forgotten through time… That's not the case in the current timeline, the Hales are alive and thriving. Jordan's already agreed to taking the Hale name when he and Laura marry, they will be the next Hale Alpha and Alpha-mate. There probably could be another Hale pack, he supposes… or they could always be the Stilinski pack… he wonders what Stiles, what Noah might think about that…

He knows of course about Lydia taking Stiles's name when they married. One of the few things he truly regrets is having missed their wedding. Even if it was sudden and a small affair, even if it was more about showing up Lydia's father than anything else, his mates married and he wasn't there to bear witness to it, to give his full support and blessing… a part of him wonders if they'll be willing to marry him as well. They cannot do it legally of course, but maybe… maybe…

**xXx**

On Tuesday afternoon, when Derek's sweeping the main floor for what's probably the third time that week, Peter phones him to let him know Stiles and Lydia are on their way. Which means they'll be arriving in two hours more or less. His mates are on their way home… to him… finally… Derek freezes for a while, his mind going blank. It takes his lungs burning for him to realize he's stopped breathing. And then his nervousness goes into overdrive and he's going around over and over again. Checking and rechecking that the place is spotless, putting away all none-essentials, fluffing pillows, cushions, ensuring all their favorite foods are there…

He isn't very good in the kitchen. Oh he can prepare a very tasty breakfast, anything from french-toast, waffles, to any sort of eggs; he's also an expert at making coffee (including most of the strange concoctions Lydia seems to prefer), tea and hot chocolate. But actual food… no, that's more Stiles's area than his. Still, he's managed to convince his Aunt Mandy to help him and there is a vegetarian lasagna in the oven. The garlic bread he bought at a bakery in Beacon Heights, a bit on the expensive side, but worth it as according to everyone it's really good.

The sun has set by the time the security app on his phone notifies him that someone's just used the key to enter the building through the door that leads to the parking-lot. The table's set for three, the bread's already in the middle, a bottle of Lydia's favorite red-wine awaiting. He pulls the lasagna out of the oven and sets it on the table, taking a moment to light the candles right as his ears pick up on the sound of the elevator door opening.

He goes to stand in the middle of the floor, closing his eyes and focusing his senses entirely on his approaching mates. He can hear their footsteps, much quieter than mundane humans, but not quite as silent as wolves; he can hear their heartbeats, takes a moment to realize that it seems like their hearts are actually beating in sync, he has no doubt his will as well soon enough. Next, he picks up on their scent, cannot help but compare it with what he can remember from before… Stiles still smells mostly like cinnamon, a hint of herbs, and petrichor; something new is the hint of something he might call ozone, like the air just before lightning hits, while the bitter undertone of the medication is gone. Even in their last months, when Stiles was forced to quit using Aderall because they just couldn't get it for him, he never stopped having that undertone, after so many years taking it, and sometimes abusing it. But now it's gone entirely. As for the storm scent, he knows that's a sign of magic, Peter had made vague mentions to such things, but Derek didn't ask for details, happy to wait for his own mates to tell him all about it.

And then there's Lydia: all vanilla, wildflowers and summer rain; there's also a sense of cold, almost biting cold that he cannot begin to imagine the reason for, but his focus is more on the fact that the scent of rust, of old, dried blood is gone. It makes him smile, because he knows it's connected to her powers, that it means she hasn't had to use them to kill, not like she had to in the other time, and he's happy for her, knows she never liked doing it, even if she learned to deal with it. They all might be willing to fight, to kill and to die, but this time around they haven't had to, and that's a good thing indeed.

It takes what seems both like forever and no time at all, but finally the door opens. Derek says nothing, he doesn't move, for a moment there he's not even sure he's breathing at all, but it doesn't seem to matter because they're there! Standing right at the door to his apartment, to what hopefully will become Their apartment, Their home, from that day on… Neither of them do anything for the longest time, too busy taking the other(s) in, convincing themselves that it's truly happening, that they're finally there, standing face to face, together for the first time since they all died, since the end of the world they knew, since they fell back through time and woke up twenty years in the past, to start their stories all over again.

And perhaps if they hadn't chosen differently, if he'd chosen otherwise, they wouldn't have had to wait as long, but on that same vein, Derek knows, has known all along, that if he'd gone to them when they were newly returned, when it was all so new and fresh in their minds and hearts, he'd have never found it in himself to let go, and he had to. They all needed to, in order to find themselves, to find their place in this new world that's taken shape around them. Now that they know who they are apart, it's time for them to learn who they are together…

Were there a Seer in the room with them in that moment, they'd be able to tell the trio all about the future that lays ahead of them in that moment, a future that is everything they ever desired, ever imagined, ever wished for… all that and more:

_Three days later, on the day of the Pink Moon, the triune will arrive to the Hale House, together for the first time, as a true, Mated trio, holding hands and with smiles so big and bright on their faces they'd have been impossible to hide. And that's just the beginning…_

_In the coming years Stiles will become well known in both the supernatural and mundane worlds. For the humans he'll be known as a slightly quirky PI, capable of solving even the strangest of cases. For the supernaturals though, he'll be the Raven, the strongest magic user since Myrddin Emrys, and someone who's always there and willing to help whoever might need him: from innocent humans who come in the cross-hairs of the some supernatural creature or another, to supernaturals who might be in danger due to other creatures, or even hunters. He doesn't discriminate, doesn't consider one race above others, and he's always willing to help. And while he never leaves Western North America (even though no one knows why, exactly), he will in time develop a network of contacts (including supernaturals, humans, and even a few hunters) who will trust him and be willing to follow his orders to deal with matters, going where he cannot._

_No one outside of the Hale Pack will ever know the Lily except by reputation alone. One of the Raven's partners, a genius, and the one who will one day develop the means to ensure the deaths of the supernaturals due to poison go down dramatically. On the human side, Lydia will amass a considerable amount of prizes in Chemistry and Biochemistry including the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, the Arthur C. Cope, Ernest Guenther and Linus Pauling Awards and the Garvan-Olin Medal. She will also go down in history as the person to solve one of the Millennium Problems._

_Derek will remain an alpha, the supernatural world will know him as the Stilinski Alpha, a scion pack that answers to the Hale Pack. He will be happy to be an alpha for the power it gives him, the ability to truly protect those he loves, though he'll never be interested in ruling the territory, happy to submit first to his mom, and eventually to Laura as the Hale Alpha._

_It will be half an accident, when they eventually open the Halfmoon Bakery. With Stiles going nuts over a case he cannot crack… Stiles has always liked cooking when he's in a rut, it's the kind of activity that he can focus his whole attention on, letting his mind unwind, giving himself a break, until he's ready to get back to work. But when he finally emerges from his office the kitchen in their apartment is a mess and he cannot find his favorite pans and cookie cutters… it's Lydia who reminds him of the bakery in the ground-floor. The original plan will be for him to get the things he needs and then head up… until he sees the kitchen in that place and totally falls in love with it. His mates will find him a couple of hours later, with almost a dozen sheets of cookies already done, four trays of cupcakes cooling on a counter, two more in the oven, while Stiles works in making chocolate frosting from scratch. It will be too much for the three of them to eat on their own, and as people drop by, curiosity pulling them as they see the lights on in the bakery for the first time in years… that will be it._

_They will get their tattoos, the ones Lydia and Stiles dreamed of while at Berkeley. The two of them will get a black wolf with bright red eyes, while Derek will get a raven on one arm and a white lily on the other. And the whole town will love them, for they're the Stilinskis…_

_And finally, on the day when once, in another world, all three of them lost their lives tragically, only to find themselves being thrown twenty years into the past… the greatest miracle of their lives will take place, when Luna Ashling Stilinski is born, with her mama's perfectly delicate features, her daddy's alabaster mole-doted skin, her papa's midnight hair, and eyes that seem a perfect blend of all of theirs… she'll be absolute perfection…_

But that, that's the future. The future that they start building now, in the place that shall from this day on be their home… as the three finally become one…

It's impossible to tell who it is that moves first, perhaps they all do, at the same time. Bags are forgotten by the door and soon they're all standing close together, they don't even think about it as hands reach out, each meeting another, clasping together. Their bonds flare brightly just for a moment, and it's like they can suddenly breathe. Like they've been holding their breath all this time and hadn't even realized it, not until they found themselves in each other, again. And most importantly: for the first time in so, so long, no hands are left empty… 

**Author's Note:**

> I like this so much... hope you do too. 
> 
> This fic began, like I said before, as a vague idea for a "Time River" AU, though the more I thought about it, the less it fit with that, until I finally decided to make it into its own story (about the same time I decided to play with Sterydia). I had this image in my head, of Lydia as Red Riding Hood (ala Amanda Seyfried in Red Riding Hood), with Derek as a black wolf on her left, and Stiles as a black raven on her right arm... but in the end when I was choosing their symbols I chose the lily for her instead, for the reasons that are explained in the story itself. 
> 
> So, did anyone guess who the authors of those books that had been mentioned in Raven and Lily were before it was revealed here? I remember when I was first writing this piece I couldn't make up my mind whether to make Derek an artist (drawing and eventually painting), or a writer. And then someone pointed out Boyce Fox in Fifty Shades Freed and it was too good not to use it. I even used Ana! (though don't look too close at the timings, they don't actually fit, but it's not like this was actually a crossover with 50 Shades or anything like that). 
> 
> And finally, regarding the question of why I had Derek stay away for so long (a bit more than eleven years, to be precise)... I wanted each of them (Stiles, Lydia and Derek) to become the person they were meant to be, before they were all together again. Stiles and Lydia stayed together, yes, but the thing is, they weren't actually together the first time around, when they were in Beacon Hills they were never actually together, and when they left for college they were technically dating but each of them living in a different part of the country as they worked on their studies and then their job. So where they're concerned, they learned to be together, truly together, to be able to depend on each other. Stiles learned he doesn't have to do everything alone, and Lydia learned she's not alone; they both learned, in their own way, to trust each other.  
> Derek for his part got the chance to do all the things he couldn't the first time around: finish high-school, go to college, discover what he wanted to do for a living, build a home, and eventually a family. Become who and what he was always meant to be, but never had a chance... That was important to me. They needed to find themselves, before coming together. To know the value each of them had, both together and apart. 
> 
> Also, from the moment I began planning this fic I had this idea, of starting the story on the same exact moment, but in different ways, and ending it on the exact same scene. I like how it turned out. 
> 
> I had some very vague ideas for a fourth part, as I believe I said in the first piece. But my muse didn't cooperate. In the end I added what I could in that little flash-forward near the end of this piece. I hope you like it. It made me happy, picturing them years down the road, being together... 
> 
> Full sized poster/cover (the one in the series page), banners and wallpapers (four of each) can all be found in my DA account, I go by Princess-Lalaith there. I'd love it if you'd tell me what you think of those too!


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